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 |
|---|---|
| huipilla | Mexican Spanish, an embroidered native blouse |
| huisquil | Mexican Spanish, the chayote |
| humettee | French heraldic humette, couped, cut off short |
| hurgila | Hindi hargila, the adjutant stork |
| hyahya | Guianese, the milk tree Tabernaemontana |
| hydriotaphia | Greek, urn-burial (Browne's title) |
| hypaethros | Greek, a roofless temple |
| hypaethrum | Latin, the open part of a temple |
| hypaton | Greek music, of the lowest tetrachord |
| hypermetron | Greek, verse line with an extra syllable |
| ideatum | Latin, the thing thought of |
| idion | Greek, a property peculiar to a thing |
| idyllion | Greek eidyllion, a little idyl |
| idyllium | Latin, an idyl |
| ijmaa | Arabic, ijma, consensus of the scholars |
| iliau | Hawaiian, a giant-rosette shrub |
| imaumbarah | Urdu, imambara, a Shia assembly hall |
| impages | Latin, the rail of a door frame |
| improprium | Latin, an impropriety (opp. proprium) |
| inarculum | Latin, a Roman priest's twig-wreath |
| indebitatus | Latin, "being indebted" (assumpsit) |
| indivisim | Latin, "undividedly", jointly |
| infortiate | Latin, middle part of Justinian's Digest |
| inkos | Zulu, "chief, lord" (form of address) |
| inscibile | Latin, that which cannot be known |
| intisy | Malagasy, a rubber-yielding spurge of Madagascar |
| intortillage | French entortillage, a twisting together |
| intriguante | French intrigante, a female intriguer |
| irenicum | New Latin, a peace-making proposal in theology |
| isabelita | Spanish, the queen angel-fish |
| ishime | Japanese, stone-textured metal finish |
| isoteles | Greek, alien taxed equally with citizens |
| itauba | Brazilian Portuguese, a timber tree |
| itcheoglan | Turkish, page of the sultan's palace |
| itcze | Hungarian, an old liquid measure (itce) |
| ivray | French ivraie, darnel |
| izafat | Persian, the noun-linking izafa construction |
| iztle | Mex. Spanish, agave fiber (ixtle) |
| izvozchik | Russian, a cab-driver |
| jaburan | Japanese, lily-turf (Ophiopogon jaburan) |
| jactivus | Law Latin, one who loses a suit by default |
| jacunda | Portuguese/Tupi, a Brazilian cichlid fish |
| jagamohan | Sanskrit, temple assembly hall in Odisha |
| jagath | Sanskrit, "world" (jagat) |
| jahannan | Arabic, hell (Jahannam) |
| jalor | Malay, a dugout canoe (jalur) |
| janapum | Sanskrit-derived, sunn-hemp fiber |
| jarde | French, callous tumor on a horse's hock |
| jataco | Peruvian Spanish, an amaranth |
| jimigaki | Japanese, polished-ground metal finish |
| jingu | Japanese, a Shinto shrine (jingū) |
| jisheng | Chinese, mistletoe used in medicine |
| jnanamarga | Sanskrit, the path of knowledge |
| jnanashakti | Sanskrit, the power of knowledge |
| jnanayoga | Sanskrit, the yoga of knowledge |
| jnanendriya | Sanskrit, an organ of perception |
| jobarbe | French joubarbe, the houseleek |
| juchart | German/Swiss, a land measure like an acre |
| jufti | Persian, the jufti (double) carpet knot |
| jumfru | Swedish jungfru, maiden; a small measure |
| justiciatus | Law Latin, the office of justiciar |
| kaberu | Amharic, the Abyssinian wolf |
| kabuzuchi | Japanese, mallet-pommelled ancient sword |
| kadikane | Turkish, a kadi's court or office |
| kadine | Turkish, a lady of the harem (kadın) |
| kadishim | Hebrew, "holy ones", angels |
| kados | Greek, a jar or liquid measure |
| kahala | Hawaiian, the amberjack |
| kalogeros | Greek, a monk |
| kaltemail | German, cold enamel |
| kalymmaukion | Greek, Orthodox clergyman's cylindrical hat |
| kamanichile | Tagalog/Nahuatl, the camachile tree |
| kamavachara | Pali, the realm of sense-desire |
| kanamono | Japanese, metal fittings, hardware |
| kanephore | Greek, basket-bearing maiden in processions |
| kanephoros | Greek, basket-bearer in Athenian processions |
| karmouth | Arabic, the Nile catfish |
| karsha | Sanskrit, an ancient Indian weight or coin |
| katabothra | Greek, a limestone swallow-hole |
| katabothron | Greek, a swallow-hole |
| kathal | Hindi, the jackfruit |
| katjepiering | Afrikaans, the Cape gardenia |
| katuka | Hindi, the drug plant Picrorhiza (kutki) |
| kazachki | Russian, plural of kazachok (a dance) |
| kazatske | Russian, the kazatska dance |
| kedjave | Persian kajawah, a camel litter |
| kedushshah | Hebrew, the Kedushah sanctification prayer |
| keratto | West Indian name for an agave and its fiber |
| keraunoscopia | Greek, divination by thunder |
| kerbaya | Malay, a loose blouse (kebaya) |
| kersanne | French, the Breton kersantite building stone |
| khaja | Hindi, a flaky sweet pastry |
| khajur | Hindi, the date palm or its fruit |
| khakham | Hebrew, a sage or Sephardic rabbi |
| khalal | Arabic, dates at the crisp ripening stage |
| khass | Arabic/Urdu, special or private |
| khazen | Hebrew, a synagogue cantor (hazzan) |
| khazenim | Hebrew plural of khazen, cantors |
| khojah | Persian/Turkish, a teacher or gentleman |
| kinah | Hebrew, a lamentation or dirge |
The other lists filed alongside this one.
