Real Words Without Definition
This one is a judgement call.
A foreign word used in English without ever being translated.
adelphoi is Greek for brothers. aburabozu is a Japanese fish. achtelthaler is a German coin worth an eighth of a thaler. afghanets is a Russian word for a dusty Central Asian wind.
They turn up in English books, so somebody wrote them down. They never became English words, so no dictionary lists them.
2,016 words · sorted A to Z · each with a line on why it is here
Matches the word itself, not the note beside it. Case does not matter.
| Word, sorted Z to A | Language and meaning |
|---|---|
| gomukhi | Sanskrit, bag for the beads-telling hand |
| gonake | W. African name for Acacia nilotica |
| gondang | Malay/Javanese, a fig tree |
| goofah | Arabic quffa, round wicker boat of the Tigris |
| gorgoneum | Latin, a gorgon's-head ornament |
| gotraja | Sanskrit, kinsman of the same gotra |
| goumi | Japanese, Elaeagnus multiflora, the goumi berry |
| grager | Yiddish, the Purim noisemaker or rattle |
| gragers | Yiddish, Purim rattles (pl. of grager) |
| gresil | French gresil, fine hail or sleet |
| gribane | French, a flat-bottomed coasting vessel |
| griffade | French, a sudden grasp with the claws |
| grihyasutra | Sanskrit, Hindu domestic-ritual manual |
| griphus | Latin/Greek, a riddle |
| guacacoa | American Spanish, a West Indian plant |
| guachamaca | Venezuelan Spanish, a poisonous tree |
| guachipilin | Central American Spanish, the Diphysa tree |
| guacico | Cuban Spanish, a plant name |
| guacimo | American Spanish, the bastard-cedar tree |
| guaguanche | Cuban Spanish, a barracuda |
| guaican | American Spanish, a West Indian fish |
| guamachil | Mexican Spanish, the Manila-tamarind tree |
| guamuchil | Mexican Spanish, the Manila-tamarind tree |
| guapena | American Spanish, a West Indian fish |
| guarabu | Brazilian Portuguese, a hardwood tree |
| guarapucu | Brazilian Portuguese, the wahoo fish |
| guarrau | Cuban Spanish, a wading bird |
| guatibero | Cuban Spanish, a bird name |
| guativere | Cuban Spanish, a grouper or hind |
| guavina | American Spanish, the sleeper fish |
| guayroto | American Spanish, a West Indian plant |
| guaza | Indian, dried hemp (ganja) |
| guebucu | Brazilian Portuguese, a spearfish |
| guemul | Chilean Spanish, the Andean deer |
| guenepe | Antillean French, the genip tree |
| guereba | Brazilian Portuguese, a howler monkey |
| guglio | Italian, an obelisk or spire |
| gumhar | Hindi, the gamhar tree (Gmelina arborea) |
| gunj | Hindi/Persian, a market or granary |
| gunnung | Malay, mountain (gunung) |
| guptavidya | Sanskrit, "secret knowledge" |
| gusain | Hindi, a Hindu ascetic (gosain) |
| guslee | Serbian, the one-stringed gusle |
| gwerziou | Breton, ballads (pl. of gwerz) |
| gyneconitis | Greek, the women's apartment of a house |
| gyrovagi | Latin, wandering monks |
| hackia | Guianese, a hardwood tree (Tecoma) |
| hageen | Arabic, a half-bred riding camel (hajin) |
| hagia | Greek, holy (fem.), as in Hagia Sophia |
| haiari | Guyanese Carib, a fish-poison vine |
| haitsai | Chinese, edible seaweed |
| hakamim | Hebrew, sages (pl. of hakam) |
| hakdar | Urdu/Hindi, holder of a right, claimant |
| hakenkreuzler | German, swastika-wearer, Nazi |
| halapepe | Hawaiian, a tree (Pleomele aurea) |
| haldu | Hindi, an Indian timber tree (Adina) |
| hallalcor | Anglo-Indian, a low-caste sweeper |
| hallex | Latin, the great toe (var. of hallux) |
| hamlah | Arabic, a caravan or expedition |
| haratch | Turkish, poll-tax on non-Muslims |
| harmonici | Latin pl., the ancient harmonic theorists |
| hartall | Hindi hartal, yellow orpiment |
| hashabi | Sudanese Arabic, the gum-arabic acacia |
| hauberticum | Med. Latin, of a hauberk (knight's fee) |
| haymish | Yiddish, homey, unpretentious |
| hazanut | Hebrew, the cantor's art |
| hazzanut | Hebrew, the cantor's office or art |
| hecatonstylon | Greek, hundred-columned hall |
| hecte | Greek hekte, one sixth of a stater |
| heemraat | Dutch/Afrikaans, local council member |
| helodes | Greek helodes, marshy (marsh fever) |
| helzel | Yiddish, stuffed poultry neck |
| hemerologium | Latin, a calendar |
| hemiepes | Greek, a half-hexameter verse |
| hemiolia | Greek, the ratio 3:2 in music |
| heortologion | Greek, book of the church festal calendar |
| heptastylos | Greek, a seven-columned portico |
| herenach | Irish, erenach, holder of church lands |
| herigaut | Old French, a medieval loose overgown |
| hermokopid | Greek, a mutilator of the Hermae |
| hesperinon | Greek, an evening hymn or vesper office |
| hesperinos | Greek, vespers, the evening office |
| hetaeria | Greek, a club or secret association |
| heteroclitica | New Latin, grammar, heteroclite nouns |
| hexastichon | Greek, a six-line stanza or poem |
| hicaco | Spanish, the coco-plum, Chrysobalanus icaco |
| hielamen | Dharuk, Australian narrow shield (hielaman) |
| hielamon | Dharuk, Australian narrow shield (hielaman) |
| hierogrammateus | Greek, "sacred scribe" |
| hieros | Greek, "sacred" |
| higgaion | Hebrew, musical/meditation direction in the Psalms |
| hippalectryon | Greek, fabulous horse-cock |
| hiyakkin | Japanese, hyakkin, a hundred kin |
| hoihere | Maori, the lacebark tree, Hoheria |
| homiliarium | Late Latin, a collection of homilies |
| homoeomerae | Latin, the "like parts" of Anaxagoras |
| homoeomeri | Latin, the like parts of Anaxagoras |
| honzo | Japanese honzo, herbal materia medica |
| horme | Greek horme, vital impulse (hormic psychology) |
| hormos | Greek hormos, a chain, and an ancient chain-dance |
The other lists filed alongside this one.
