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 |
|---|---|
| pranidhana | Sanskrit, a vow or resolute aspiration |
| prastha | Sanskrit, a measure of grain |
| pratapwant | Hindi, majestic or full of glory |
| pratiloma | Sanskrit, marriage against the caste order |
| prelinpinpin | French, quack's magic powder (poudre de perlimpinpin) |
| presentationes | Medieval Latin, plural of presentatio |
| principulus | Latin, a petty prince, princeling |
| pristaw | Russian, a police officer or bailiff (pristav) |
| proaeresis | Greek, deliberate choice (proairesis) |
| proagon | Greek, ceremony before the drama festival |
| proaulion | Greek, forecourt or vestibule; a prelude |
| prochooi | Greek, pitchers (pl. of prochoos) |
| prodomoi | Greek, porches (pl. of prodomos) |
| prodomos | Greek, porch or vestibule of a temple |
| proklausis | Greek, a lamentation beforehand |
| promptorium | Latin, a storehouse or repertory |
| prophasis | Greek, a foretelling; in medicine, prognosis |
| prorrhesis | Greek, a foretelling, prediction |
| proscholium | Latin, vestibule or forecourt of a school |
| proskomide | Greek, Orthodox rite of preparing the elements |
| prosphoron | Greek, altar bread of the Orthodox liturgy |
| prosstoa | Greek pros- + stoa, portico before a building |
| prostasis | Greek, a standing before; protection |
| prostoa | Greek, portico in front of a building |
| prostoon | Greek prostoon, a porch or portico |
| prothysteron | Greek rhetoric, the later placed first |
| protopappas | Greek, "archpriest" (protopapas) |
| proveditore | Italian, "provveditore", Venetian commissioner |
| psovie | Russian, long-coated (of the borzoi hound) |
| psychagogos | Greek, "leader of souls" |
| psycter | Greek psykter, a wine-cooling vase |
| puchera | Spanish, a stew or olla (puchero) |
| pudiano | Spanish, a West Indian wrasse |
| puggi | Hindi, a tracker who follows footprints |
| pukeka | Maori, the pukeko or swamphen |
| pukras | Nepali, the koklass pheasant |
| pulpamenta | Latin, dainty dishes of flesh meat |
| pulperia | Spanish American, a grocery and tavern |
| pultost | Norwegian, a sour-milk cheese |
| punamu | Maori, greenstone, pounamu |
| pundita | Hindi, a learned woman, fem. of pandit |
| pungyi | Burmese, a Buddhist monk |
| pushum | Persian, fine goat's wool, pashm |
| pyramidaire | French, pyramidal, pyramid-shaped |
| quadrimum | Latin, wine four years old |
| quartaut | French, a quarter-cask |
| quebradilla | Spanish, a small ravine |
| quiaquia | West Indian name for a scad fish |
| quintaten | German, the Quintaten organ stop |
| quintato | an organ stop, the quintaton |
| quistiti | French ouistiti, a marmoset |
| raadzaal | Dutch/Afrikaans, council chamber |
| rabban | Aramaic, "our master", a title of a teacher |
| racinage | French, root-pattern staining in bookbinding |
| rafraichissoir | French, a wine-cooling side table |
| raisine | French, a conserve of grape juice |
| rajoguna | Sanskrit, the guna of passion, rajas |
| rakh | Punjabi, a grass or forest preserve |
| rakhal | Bengali, a cowherd |
| ramanas | Japanese, the ramanas rose, Rosa rugosa |
| ramass | French ramasse, an Alpine sledge |
| rasophore | Greek, a monk of the first degree, wearing the rason |
| ratanhia | Spanish, rhatany root (Krameria) |
| raugrave | German, Raugraf, a Rhenish rank of count |
| rauriki | Maori (New Zealand), the sow thistle |
| ravison | French, wild rape seed used for oil |
| rebolera | Spanish, a bullfighter's swirling cape pass |
| reconvenire | Latin, law, to bring a counter-action |
| recopilation | Spanish recopilación, a compilation of laws |
| reglementation | French, official regulation, esp. of vice |
| rehboc | Dutch rehbok, the South African rhebok antelope |
| reichstaler | German Reichstaler, the imperial thaler coin |
| reichsthaler | German Reichsthaler, older spelling of the same coin |
| reimkennar | Norse, rhyme-knower, the sorceress in Scott's The Pirate |
| remontoire | French, horology, a clock's re-tensioning device |
| renguera | Spanish, a limp, lameness |
| rentrayeuse | French, a woman who does fine reweaving |
| repolon | Spanish, a manege turn made by a horse |
| ressalah | Urdu, a troop of Indian cavalry |
| rhabdos | Greek, "rod, wand" |
| rhasophore | Greek, robe-wearer, a monk of the first degree |
| rhizotomi | Greek, root-cutters, the ancient herbalists |
| rhododaphne | Greek, "rose-laurel", the oleander |
| rhombenporphyr | German, rhomb porphyry, a Norwegian rock |
| ribazuba | Russian, "fish tooth", walrus ivory |
| ribzuba | Russian, walrus ivory; var. of ribazuba |
| riksdaalder | Dutch, rijksdaalder, a silver coin |
| rinceau | French, a scroll of foliage in ornament |
| rinceaux | French plural of rinceau, foliage scrolls |
| riobitsu | Japanese, a portable wooden chest |
| risdaler | Danish rigsdaler, a silver coin |
| rishtadar | Anglo-Indian, Persian rishta-dar, an office holder |
| robalito | Spanish, a small robalo or snook |
| rocolo | Italian roccolo, a bird-netting enclosure |
| rodomontador | Spanish, a braggart, from Rodomonte |
| rohun | Hindi, the rohun tree yielding a febrifuge bark |
| rohuna | Hindi, the rohun tree (Soymida febrifuga) |
| rokeage | Narragansett, parched corn meal |
| rokee | Narragansett, parched corn meal |
| rolpens | Dutch, a dish of rolled tripe |
The other lists filed alongside this one.
