Untranslatable wordEveryday
Japanese
Boketto
Meaning: Staring off into the distance with your mind pleasantly empty, thinking of nothing at all.
Literally: Vacant gazing
Origin: Japanese ぼーっと; the Japanese give this restful blankness its own word.
More Japanese untranslatable words
- Komorebi The dappled light that filters through leaves and scatters across the ground.
- Wabi-sabi Finding beauty in imperfection, impermanence, and the worn or incomplete.
- Tsundoku Buying books and letting them pile up unread — a habit, not a crime.
- Mono no aware A bittersweet awareness of impermanence — the gentle sadness and appreciation that arise…
- Ikigai The thing that makes you want to get out of bed — the intersection of what you love, what…
- Ma The meaningful negative space between things — a deliberate pause in music, an empty room…
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.
- 隣の客はよく柿食う客だ (Tonari no kyaku wa yoku kaki kuu kyaku da) A tricky spiral on ka/ki/ku that accelerates as you try to keep the syllables distinct.
- なまむぎ なまごめ なまたまご (Nama mugi, nama gome, nama tamago) A nimble warm-up for the Japanese 'na / ma / ge' syllables.
- 東京特許許可局 (Tōkyō tokkyo kyokakyoku) A machine-gun of 'kyo' / 'kyoku' sounds.
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