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 |
|---|---|
| maholi | South African vernacular name for a galago |
| maimon | Arabic maimun, the pig-tailed macaque |
| maimul | Arabic, a monkey, var. of maimon |
| maksoorah | Arabic maqsurah, screened enclosure in a mosque |
| malasapsap | Tagalog, a Philippine slipmouth fish |
| malconvenance | French, unseemliness, impropriety |
| malguzar | Hindi, a landholder liable for revenue |
| malguzari | Hindi, the tenure or revenue of a malguzar |
| malicho | Spanish malhecho, misdeed (Hamlet's 'malicho') |
| malikzadi | Persian/Urdu, a prince's daughter |
| mallecho | Spanish malhecho, misdeed ('miching mallecho') |
| mammodi | Indian, a plain cotton muslin, mamoodie |
| mandoer | Afrikaans/Malay mandur, an overseer or foreman |
| mandua | Hindi, finger millet, Eleusine coracana |
| manganeisen | German Manganeisen, ferromanganese |
| manichordon | Medieval Latin, the clavichord |
| manjeet | Hindi, Indian madder, Rubia cordifolia |
| mannire | Medieval Latin, to summon before a court |
| manomin | Ojibwe, wild rice |
| manuao | Polynesian, a warship, from 'man-of-war' |
| manubaliste | French, a hand ballista |
| marchetto | Italian, a small Venetian coin |
| markgenossenschaft | German, village mark-community |
| martellement | French, music, hammered ornament |
| mashak | Hindi, leather water-bag |
| mashrebeeyah | Arabic, mashrabiya latticed window |
| mashrebeeyeh | Arabic, mashrabiya latticed window |
| massekhoth | Hebrew, Talmudic tractates |
| masskanne | German, a quart tankard |
| matacan | Spanish matacán, a machicolation |
| matelotte | French, fish stew; also a sailors' dance |
| matkah | Russian, the female fur seal |
| matrah | Arabic, a mattress or cushion |
| mawali | Arabic, non-Arab Muslim clients |
| mechitzoth | Hebrew, synagogue partitions, pl. of mechitza |
| mehitzah | Hebrew, synagogue partition |
| mehitzoth | Hebrew, plural of mehitzah |
| melammdim | Hebrew, teachers, plural of melammed |
| melammed | Hebrew, teacher of young children |
| melicraton | Greek, honey mixed with water |
| melicratum | Latin, honey and water, hydromel |
| melote | Greek, a monk's sheepskin garment |
| membretto | Italian, a small pilaster or member |
| meninting | Malay, name of a small kingfisher |
| mercatoria | Latin, mercantile, as in lex mercatoria |
| mesenna | Amharic, anthelmintic bark of Albizzia |
| meshrebeeyeh | Arabic, latticed oriel window (mashrabiya) |
| meshugana | Yiddish, a crazy person |
| meshuggana | Yiddish, a crazy person |
| mesivta | Yiddish/Aramaic, a talmudic academy |
| mesymnion | Greek, refrain in the middle of a stanza |
| metusia | Greek metousia, participation in substance |
| micranthropos | Greek, "little man," man as microcosm |
| microtheos | Greek, "little god" |
| milesimo | Spanish milésimo, a thousandth (coin unit) |
| miljee | Australian Aboriginal, Acacia oswaldii |
| mingelen | Dutch, an old liquid measure |
| mirdha | Hindi, a village headman or watchman |
| miriki | Tupi/Brazilian, the woolly spider monkey |
| misanthropi | Latin plural of misanthropus, misanthropes |
| misanthropos | Greek, a misanthrope |
| mitokoromono | Japanese, matched set of three sword fittings |
| moccenigo | Italian, Venetian silver coin (Mocenigo) |
| mocomoco | Carib name for the arum Montrichardia |
| mogdad | African name for coffee senna, Cassia occidentalis |
| mohabat | Persian/Urdu, "love" |
| mohoohoo | African vernacular plant name |
| molvi | Urdu, Muslim religious scholar (maulvi) |
| monauli | Greek, plural of monaulos, single pipes |
| monaulos | Greek, a single flute or pipe |
| monepiscopus | Late Latin, a sole bishop of a see |
| monoxyla | Greek, plural of monoxylon, dugout canoes |
| moolvi | Urdu, Muslim religious scholar (maulvi) |
| moolvie | Urdu, Muslim religious scholar (maulvi) |
| moosemise | Algonquian name for moosewood, the striped maple |
| morabit | Arabic murabit, a marabout; also a coin |
| mordieu | French oath, "mort Dieu", God's death |
| mormyre | French mormyre, a Nile fish of the genus Mormyrus |
| morocain | French marocain, a crepe dress fabric |
| morpunkee | Hindi mor-pankhi, peacock-prowed state barge |
| morthwyrtha | Old English, worshipper of the dead |
| mosur | Hindi masur, the Indian lentil |
| motetus | Med. Latin, a motet |
| moulvi | Urdu maulvi, a Muslim doctor of law |
| mousmee | Japanese musume, a girl |
| mowha | Hindi mahua, the mahua tree |
| mubarat | Arabic, divorce by mutual consent |
| mucaro | Puerto Rican Sp., a screech owl |
| mufasal | Anglo-Indian mofussil, the country districts |
| mulaprakriti | Sanskrit, primordial root-matter |
| muletta | Portuguese muleta, a Tagus fishing boat |
| mumjuma | Hindi momjama, waxed cloth, oilcloth |
| munchee | Urdu munshi, a native teacher or secretary |
| murgavi | Persian murghabi, a wild duck |
| murral | Anglo-Indian, the murrel or snakehead fish |
| mushaa | Arabic musha'a, land held in common |
| mussack | Hindi, a leather water-bag (mussuck) |
| mussellim | Turkish, a deputy governor |
| mussuk | Hindi, a leather water-bag |
| mustafuz | Turkish mustahfiz, Ottoman reserve militia |
The other lists filed alongside this one.
