Kummerspeck — Excess weight from emotional eating
/ KOO-mer-shpek /
German

Literally 'grief bacon'. The weight you gain from stress or emotional eating. One of the most darkly relatable German compound words.

jdoe · 2 hours ago · 2 comments
Gigil — The urge to squeeze something unbearably cute
/ GEE-gil /
Filipino

The overwhelming urge to pinch or squeeze something because it's so cute. Also felt when seeing babies, puppies, or anything impossibly adorable.

linguaphile · 2 hours ago · 2 comments
Hiraeth — A homesickness for a home you cannot return to
/ HEER-eyeth /
Welsh

A longing for home that no longer exists or never was. A nostalgia and grief for the lost places of your past, or a romanticized past.

linguaphile · 2 hours ago · 2 comments
Forelsket — The euphoria of falling in love
/ for-EL-sket /
Norwegian

The overwhelming, indescribable feeling of joy when you're falling in love with someone. There is no English equivalent.

darren · 2 hours ago · 2 comments
Fernweh — Wanderlust; an ache for distant places
/ FERN-veh /
German

Literally 'far-sickness', the opposite of homesickness — a craving for travel and distant places you've never been.

jdoe · 2 hours ago · 2 comments
Toska — Longing with nothing to long for
/ TOHS-kah /
Russian

Vladimir Nabokov described it as 'a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness.' It can range from mild longing to a deep ache of the soul.

linguaphile · 2 hours ago · 2 comments
Saudade — A deep longing for something absent
/ saw-DAH-deh /
Portuguese

A melancholic nostalgia for something you love that is gone, or may never have existed. Often used to describe the feeling of missing a homeland, a person, or a past moment.

lexie · 2 hours ago · 4 comments