English may boast one of the lengthiest vocabularies in the world, but there are still entire emotional universes Merriam-Webster can’t quite encapsulate. Thankfully, other cultures can. Our ability to understand these layered, sometimes conflicting feelings proves that beneath our differences, we share the same emotional language.

Here are some of the most beautifully specific emotions that have no English equivalent, grouped by the inner worlds they illuminate. Together, they show one thing: human feelings are far more connected than we might assume,

1. The many faces of love, longing, and heartache

Chappell Roan said it best: “love is a kaleidoscope.” One of tenderness, ache, inevitability, and memory. These words perfectly capture the emotional fine print of human connection.

Saudade (Portuguese) – A deep nostalgic longing for someone or something loved and lost. The love that lingers long after the moment is gone.

Tu’burni (Arabic) – “I hope I die before you,” said not morbidly but because life without the beloved would be unbearable.

Onsra (Boro, India) – Loving for what you know will be the last time.

Mágoa (Portuguese) – A heartbreak so profound that its traces remain visible in gestures and expressions.

Sielvartas (Lithuanian) – A seemingly endless grief or emotional turmoil, often tied to loss.

Toska (Russian) – Spiritual anguish with no clear cause—sometimes love-sickness, sometimes existential ache.

Koi No Yokan (Japanese) – The feeling that you’re destined to fall in love with someone. Not love at first sight, but the inevitability of it.

Forelsket (Norwegian) – The consuming, euphoric high of new love. Technically, we do have an English equivalent (puppy love).

Mamihlapinatapai (Yaghan) – A shared look between two people, both hoping the other will initiate something they both want.

Gigil (Tagalog) – The irresistible urge to squeeze someone because they’re impossibly cute or beloved.

Jeong (Korean) – A deep, multifaceted emotional bond encompassing love, affection, empathy, and attachment.

These words prove that love cannot be reduced to a single emotion.

2. Awe, inspiration, and emotional transcendence

Woman with outstretched arms in a sunlit field, enjoying the outdoors. Photo credit: Canva

Some emotions lift us out of our everyday selves—through nature, art, music, or inner stillness. These words celebrate those moments when the world feels bigger, deeper, or more alive.

Tarab (Arabic) – A musical ecstasy that transports you.

Duende (Spanish) – The visceral, spine-tingling feeling you get from powerful art.

Shinrin-yoku (Japanese) – The restorative calm from “forest-bathing.”

Dadirri (Australian Aboriginal) – Deep, contemplative, respectful listening.

Querencia (Spanish) – A place where your soul rests and regathers strength.

Ailyak (Bulgarian) – Doing things calmly and slowly, resisting the rush of life.

Ataraxia (Ancient Greek) – A serene calm that comes from acceptance and clarity.

Sukha (Sanskrit) – True, lasting happiness not dependent on circumstances.

Eudaimonia (Greek) – A form of human flourishing that includes joy, purpose, and even the ability to hold suffering with grace.

These are the emotions that open us up to natural beauty and to the deeper parts of ourselves.

3. Yearning, wanderlust, and the emotional pull of place

Lush forest with vibrant green and orange foliage in soft, misty sunlight. Photo credit: Canva

These words capture the feelings that tie us to geography—whether we’re longing to leave, ecstatic to go, or transformed when we arrive somewhere new.

Fernweh (German) – A longing for faraway places you haven’t visited yet.

Dépaysement (French) – The disorientation (good or bad) of being somewhere entirely unfamiliar. Think of it as reverse déjà vu.

Resfeber (Swedish) – The nervous excitement right before a journey begins.

Vårkänsla (Swedish) – The giddy, heart-lifting feeling when spring finally returns.

Iktsuarpok (Inuit) – The restless anticipation of waiting for someone to arrive.

Waldeinsamkeit (German) – Also belongs here for its nature-rooted serenity.

These words remind us that our surroundings shape our inner world.

4. Connection, community, and shared human vibes

Friends laughing and drinking coffee at a cozy cafe table. Photo credit: Canva

Some feelings only exist between people in crowds, in friendships, in shared silences, or in the subtle emotional temperature of a room.

Gezelligheid (Dutch) – Cozy, heartwarming togetherness.

분위기 / Boon-wee-gi (Korean) – The overall atmosphere or vibe of a situation.

Fika (Swedish) – A ritualized break to slow down and connect (usually over coffee).

Mokita (Kivila) – A painful truth everyone knows but agrees not to mention.

Commuovere (Italian) – Being moved to tears by someone’s story or kindness.

Human life is held together by shared awareness, and these words embody some of those shared experiences.

5. Strength, resilience, and grit

Woman with curly hair in sunlight, eyes closed, wearing a purple top. Photo credit: Canva

These words show that courage and resourcefulness take many forms.

Sisu (Finnish) – Deep perseverance and courage in adversity.

Orenda (Huron) – The human will’s power to shape the world despite fate.

Jijivisha (Hindi) – A zest for life; desire to live fully and vibrantly.

加油 / Jiā yóu (Chinese) – “Add oil!” A cheer of encouragement and solidarity.

Desenrascanço (Portuguese) – Cleverly untangling yourself from trouble using creativity.

Pihentagyú (Hungarian) – A relaxed-brain quick-wittedness; clever mental play.

Some emotions are fuel to keep us going.

6. Humor, embarrassment, and the awkwardness of existence

Man smiling with hand over face, standing outdoors against a blue sky background. Photo credit: Canva

Humans are messy. These words capture the cringiness that makes us lovable.

Jayus (Indonesian) – A joke so bad it’s good.

Age-otori (Japanese) – When your haircut makes you look worse.

Litost (Czech) – The sting of suddenly realizing your own misery—often with a dash of revenge fantasy.

Lebensmüde (German) – “Life tiredness” that sometimes explains reckless behavior.

They celebrate the ways we laugh our way through being human.

7. Serenity, fulfillment, and slower ways of living

Hand painting a still life on canvas with blue and orange tones. Photo credit: Canva

These words name feelings we desperately need more English words for—the grounded peace that comes from completing something meaningful or living at a human pace.

Yuan bei (Chinese) – Perfect, satisfying accomplishment.

Ailyak (Bulgarian) – Calm, unhurried living.

Meraki (Greek) – Pouring your soul, passion, and creativity into what you do.

Querencia (Spanish) – A place of inner refuge and strength.

Ataraxia (Greek) – Acceptance-based tranquility.

These words are all about the intrinsic fullness that comes from finishing something well, doing things with heart, and letting yourself breathe.

8. The hard-to-define emotional in-betweens

Woman sitting on a chair in the water, writing in a notebook at sunset. Photo credit: Canva

Some feelings sit in liminal spaces, hard to define but unmistakably human.

Torschlusspanik (German) – The fear that the door of opportunity is closing as you age.

Desbundar (Portuguese) – Letting loose and shedding your inhibitions.

Dadirri (Aboriginal) – Quiet, contemplative inner listening.

Dépaysement (French) – Emotional disorientation abroad (also fits here).

“Bittersweet” is an English word that comes to mind, but how nice to have even more words to choose from.

Why these words matter more than ever

Maybe the real beauty of these untranslatable emotions isn’t that other languages have them and English doesn’t. It’s that humans everywhere feel them, even if we don’t always know how to say them out loud.

So the next time you experience something too complicated to explain, take heart: there’s probably a word for it somewhere in the world…and someone who’s felt it, too.

Sources: Berlitz, BBC, Thought Catalog, Collective Hub

This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.

A single door can open up a world of endless possibilities. For homeowners, the front door of their house is a  gateway to financial stability, job security, and better health. Yet for many, that door remains closed. Due to the rising costs of housing, 1 in 3 people around the world wake up without the security of safe, affordable housing. 

Since 1976, Habitat for Humanity has made it their mission to unlock and open the door to opportunity for families everywhere, and their efforts have paid off in a big way. Through their work over the past 50 years, more than 65 million people have gained access to new or improved housing, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Since 2011 alone, Habitat for Humanity has expanded access to affordable housing by a hundredfold. 

A world where everyone has access to a decent home is becoming a reality, but there’s still much to do. As they celebrate 50 years of building, Habitat for Humanity is inviting people of all backgrounds and talents to be part of what comes next through Let’s Open the Door, a global campaign that builds on this momentum and encourages people everywhere to help expand access to safe, affordable housing for those who need it most. Here’s how the foundation to a better world starts with housing, and how everyone can pitch in to make it happen. 

Globally, almost 3 billion people, including 1 in 6 U.S. families, struggle with high costs and other challenges related to housing. A crisis in itself, this also creates larger problems that affect families and communities in unexpected ways. People who lack affordable, stable housing are also more likely to experience financial hardship in other areas of their lives, since a larger share of their income often goes toward rent, utilities, and frequent moves. They are also more likely to experience health problems due to chronic stress or environmental factors, such as mold. Housing insecurity also goes hand-in-hand with unstable employment, since people may need to move further from their jobs or switch jobs altogether to offset the cost of housing. 

Affordable homeownership creates a stable foundation for families to thrive, reducing stress and increasing the likelihood for good health and stable employment. Habitat for Humanity builds and repairs homes with individual families, but it also strengthens entire communities as well. The MicroBuild® Initiative, for example, strengthens communities by increasing access to  loans for low-income families seeking to build or repair their homes. Habitat ReStore locations provide affordable appliances and building materials to local communities, in addition to creating job and volunteer opportunities that support neighborhood growth. 

Everyone can play a part in the fight for housing equity and the pursuit of a better world. Over the past 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has become a leader in global housing thanks to an engaged network of volunteers—but you don’t need to be skilled with a hammer to make a meaningful impact. Building an equitable future means calling on a wide range of people and talents.Here’s how you can get involved in the global housing movement:

Speaking up on social media about the growing housing crisis 

Volunteering on a Habitat for Humanity build in your local community

Travel and build with Habitat in the U.S. or  in one of 60   countries where we work around the globe

Join the Let’s Open the Door movement and, when you donate, you can create your own personalized door 

Shop or donate at your local Habitat ReStore

Every action, big and small, drives a global movement toward a better future. A safe home unlocks opportunity for families and communities alike, but it’s volunteers and other supporters, working together with a shared vision, who can open the door for everyone. 

Visit habitat.org/open-door to learn more and get involved today. 

Happiness researcher Dr. Arthur Brooks says that one of the most important things people can do as they enter the second half of their life is to focus on internal well-being rather than satisfying all of their wants. Even though this may feel like it runs counter to how many live the first half of their lives, he says it’s the best way to find joy in middle age and beyond.

Brooks is a professor at Harvard University, author of From Strength to Strength and Build the Life You Want (with Oprah Winfrey), and is a lifelong student of the science of happiness. He says the key to finding it in the second half of life is recognizing when enough is enough and reducing unnecessary desires.

“What happy, successful people do in the second half of their lives is they go from adding to subtracting,” Brooks says. “Mother Nature tells you that satisfaction comes from having more. More of what? More money, more power, more pleasure, more honor, more everything. More. But that’s not the secret. The real formula for happiness is all the things that you have divided by the things that you want.”

@evancarmichael The Real Formula of Happiness Speaker: Dr. Arthur Brooks Source: Dr. Arthur Brooks #motivationalquotes #motivation #inspirational #happiness #arthurbrooks ♬ New Abundance – Omar Enfedaque

The Real Formula of Happiness Speaker: Dr. Arthur Brooks Source: Dr. Arthur Brooks #motivationalquotes #motivation #inspirational #happiness #arthurbrooks

For Brooks, finding happiness later in life is an inside job: we analyze our desires and decide which ones we can cast aside. It’s a worthwhile practice, given that as we age, our ability to achieve many of our desires is compromised by the aging process.

“There’s two ways for you to get greater satisfaction,” Brooks continues. “There’s the old, inefficient way of have more, have more, have more. Or there’s the efficient, enduring way of wanting less.”

How to manage your wants, according to Brooks

It’s easy to tell people to manage their desires, but how do they come up with a strategy for doing so successfully? He says one way is to audit your desires by putting them to a simple litmus test.

“One helpful exercise is to list your major goals and ask: Would this still matter to me if no one else knew I achieved it? If the answer is no, it may not be a goal rooted in meaning,” he writes on LinkedIn.

Brooks also believes that we can simplify our lives by redefining what it means to be a success.

“In research on midlife satisfaction, those who reoriented their ambition from status to service, especially men, reported higher purpose and deeper relationships over time,” he adds.

Another meaningful way we can find greater happiness is by setting some of our wants aside and being grateful for what we have. Because if you aren’t grateful for the positives you have in life, they will never stick to your bones or be truly nourishing.

“Practice gratitude for what you have,” Daniel Levitin, professor emeritus of psychology and neuroscience at McGill University, writes in Successful Aging. “This is motivating, alters brain chemistry toward more positive emotions, and oils the pleasure circuits of the brain.”

There’s something graceful about accepting a new challenge in life as we get older: learning to have the internal strength to set aside what we truly don’t need and to nurture what we do, such as our relationships, friends, and community. Brooks’ perspective is a valuable tool that will keep many from being led astray as they age by chasing things they no longer need.

This article originally appeared last year

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