Toska
Meaning: A dull ache of the soul; a great longing with nothing in particular to long for.
Language: Russian
Literally: spiritual ache
Category: Emotion
Origin: Russian тоска; famously glossed by novelist Vladimir Nabokov.
More untranslatable words — Emotion
- Dépaysement — The disorienting yet often pleasant feeling of being far from home, immersed in the unfam…
- Retrouvailles — The joy of reuniting with someone after a long time apart.
- Mono no aware — A bittersweet awareness of impermanence — the gentle sadness and appreciation that arise…
- Natsukashii — A warm, nostalgic rush triggered by something from the past — a smell, a song, a sight. N…
- Yugen — A profound, mysterious sense of the universe that is too deep for words — the feeling of…
- Koi no yokan — The intuitive feeling upon first meeting someone that you will inevitably fall in love wi…
More Russian untranslatable words
- Pochemuchka — A person — usually a child — who asks an endless stream of questions, one 'why?' after an…
- Razliubit — To fall out of love — the process of ceasing to love someone you once loved, leaving behi…
- Avos' — A blind, hopeful trust that things will somehow work out on their own — leaving the outco…
- Poshlost' — Not merely the trashy, but the falsely important, falsely beautiful and falsely clever —…
- Nadryv — An uncontrolled outpouring of buried feeling, often strained past anything the person tru…
- Yurodivy — One who plays the fool deliberately as a religious act, and is therefore licensed to spea…
From our false friends
- Familiya (Фамилия) (Familiya) — Actually means 'surname'. A family is семья (semya).
- Intelligentny (Интеллигентный) (Intelligentnyy) — Actually means 'cultured' and 'well-mannered'. For clever, say умный (umny).
- Simpatichny (Симпатичный) (Simpatichnyy) — Actually means 'good-looking' or 'likeable'. For sympathetic, say сочувствующий (sochuvst…