Words that should exist in English

English is an incredibly versatile language and is able to absorb words easily. Think how much richer our language would be if we adopted some of these words from other languages that have no exact equivalent in English.

Fruhshoppen- German- “ Gathering at a pub before midday to have an alcoholic beverage.” 

This quaint German and Austrian tradition usually takes place on a Sunday after church. Sadly, it is beginning to die out in some of the bigger cities. This custom needs to be revived and exported all over the world. 

Bagstiv-Danish- “Still drunk when you wake up after a big night of drinking.”

The mere fact that the Danes have a word for this says so much about the country. It makes you wonder how many times this had to happen before people got tired of explaining it and came up with one word. Crazy Danes. 

Inshallah-Arabic- “If Allah wills it.”

This phrase implies that a certain level of control is out of your hands and things might not go according to plan. If you say that you are going to be somewhere at 3, inshallah, it means that Allah might have other plans for you. This could simply mean that you were held up or Allah willed you to have a nap. 

Culaccino- Italian- “The mark that is left on a table by a glass of water.”

Although not particularly deep and meaningful, there is beauty in this word. Sweet, simplistic beauty.  

Saudade- Portuguese- “A deep longing for something that no longer exists or perhaps never existed in the first place.” 

The closest English words that match this sentiment are “nostalgia” or “to miss”, but they don’t really come closet to conveying the depth of the emotion.  

Gigil- Fillipino- “Something that is so ridiculously adorable that you have the urge to pinch or squeeze it.”

Imagine a brand new puppy or baby that is just too cute and you are struggling to contain yourself, that is gigil. All new mothers around the world should add this word to their vocabulary. 

 Ungdayee- Hindi/ Urdu- “A stretch that you do first thing after waking up.”

Almost everybody does this on a daily basis, but nobody thought to give it a proper name. It even sounds like the noise that some people make while performing this stretch. 

 We should take solace in the fact that English has given its fair share of new words to the world. Some of these words with no equivalents in other languages are bromance, defriend and burkini. 

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