Koi no yokan

Meaning: The intuitive feeling upon first meeting someone that you will inevitably fall in love with them — not love at first sight, but its foreshadowing.

Language: Japanese

Literally: premonition of love

Category: Emotion

Origin: Japanese 恋の予感; distinct from love itself.

More untranslatable words — Emotion

• Weltschmerz — The weariness and sadness you feel when the world as it is falls painfully short of the w…
• Torschlusspanik — The anxious fear that time is running out — that the gates of opportunity, youth, or life…
• Han — A deep collective feeling of sorrow, resentment, and longing born from historical injusti…
• Forelsket — The overwhelming, almost dizzy euphoria of falling in love — that specific state of early…
• Resfeber — The mix of nervous excitement and anticipatory anxiety you feel before a journey — your h…
• Sisu — An extraordinary inner determination — stoic courage, grit, and resilience in the face of…

More Japanese untranslatable words

• Amae — The comfortable feeling of depending on another's goodwill — leaning into someone's indul…
• Shinrin-yoku — Immersing yourself in the atmosphere of a forest — soaking up its calm through all your s…
• Boketto — Staring off into the distance with your mind pleasantly empty, thinking of nothing at all.
• 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.

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