Hüzün
Meaning: A collective, spiritual melancholy felt by a whole city — the sadness of Istanbul's faded glory, felt by all who live there.
Language: Turkish
Literally: melancholy
Category: Emotion
Origin: Turkish; deeply explored by Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk as Istanbul's defining mood.
More untranslatable words — Emotion
- Spleen — A deep, existential ennui — a heavy, formless sadness and disgust with the world and ones…
- Épanouissement — The full flourishing of a person — blooming into your most complete, radiant self. More t…
- Razliubit — To fall out of love — the process of ceasing to love someone you once loved, leaving behi…
- Kilig — The butterflies-and-shivers feeling of romantic excitement — the giddiness triggered by a…
- Tampo — Pulling back your warmth and affection when you've been hurt — going quiet and distant, h…
- Avos' — A blind, hopeful trust that things will somehow work out on their own — leaving the outco…
More Turkish untranslatable words
- Merak — An intense, almost obsessive intellectual curiosity — not idle interest, but a passionate…
From our tongue twisters
- Khadak Singh ke khadakne se khadakti hain khidkiyan, khidkiyon ke khadakne se khadakte hain Khadak Singh. — A 'kh/kh/kh' recursive loop — each clause triggers the other, like a rattling chain react…
- Chandu ke chacha ne Chandu ki chachi ko chandi ki chamach se chatni chatayi. — A 'ch' symphony from start to finish — Hindi's palatal affricate in every single word.
- Şu çam sakızı çan sakızı olmuş, çan sakızı şan sakızı olmuş. — A 'ş/ç/şan/çan' duel — Turkish's two close sibilants at war with each other.