12 Ukrainian words with no English equivalent

Why some Ukrainian words don't translate

Every language slices the world a little differently. English has words Ukrainian needs a whole sentence for, and Ukrainian returns the favour. When a word has no English equivalent, it usually points to something a culture has cared about for a long time: home, longing, food, and the people who are yours.

I've grouped the words by theme. The stressed vowel is shown in colour in the Ukrainian and with an accent in the transliteration — that's where the weight of your voice goes.

Words for feelings English only half-covers

1. Туга (túha) — longing with sorrow in it

Туга is more than missing someone. It's a heavy, aching longing — for home, for a person, for a time that's gone — with sadness woven through it. You'll find it everywhere in Ukrainian folk songs and poetry.

2. Щем (shchem) — a sweet ache in the chest

Щем is the tender, slightly painful feeling you get from an old photo, a song from childhood or a view you love. The verb щеміти (shchemíty) describes the heart doing exactly that.

3. Жага (zhahá) — a burning thirst for something

Literally a fierce thirst, but mostly used figuratively: a craving so strong it drives you. Stronger than desire, more physical than passion.

4. Спересердя (speresérdia) — in a fit of annoyance

One word for doing or saying something rashly because you were angry or fed up — and usually regretting it afterwards. English needs a phrase: in the heat of the moment, out of sheer irritation.

Words for home and the people who are yours

5. Затишок (zatýshok) — cosiness, shelter and calm in one

Затишок is the feeling of a warm, quiet, safe place: soft light, tea, nobody rushing you. It comes from the same root as тиша (silence), so there is always a little peace in it. Cosiness covers part of it; hygge comes closer.

6. Рідний (rídnyi) — one's own, dear, of your blood or your heart

Рідний means native, but also related and dear. Your рідна мова is your mother tongue, your рідне місто is your home town, and your рідні are your relatives. Calling someone рідна людина means they feel like family, blood or not.

7. Кохати (kokháty) — to love romantically

English has one verb for loving your partner and loving pizza. Ukrainian has two. Любити (liubýty) is broad: family, friends, food, music. Кохати is romantic love only — the love of songs and proposals.

Words for time

8. Доба (dobá) — a full 24 hours

English day can mean daytime or the whole 24 hours. Ukrainian has a separate word for the full cycle of day and night — and доба also means an era.

9. Надвечір'я (nadvechíria) — the hour before evening

Not quite afternoon, not yet evening: the soft time when the light turns golden and the day starts slowing down. English has dusk and twilight, but those come later.

Words at the table

10. Смакота (smakotá) — deliciousness itself

A noun for something that tastes wonderful, said with feeling. It works as a whole sentence.

11. Смачного! (smachnóho) — enjoy your meal

Ukrainians say this before anyone eats, the way the French say bon appétit. English has no native phrase for it, which is why English speakers borrow the French one.

A word with a story: гарбуз

12. Дати гарбуза (dáty harbuzá) — to turn down a suitor

Гарбуз is simply a pumpkin. But in the old Ukrainian matchmaking tradition, a girl who didn't want to marry a suitor gave him — or his matchmakers — a pumpkin instead of an answer. The idiom lives on: to give someone a pumpkin means to reject them.

Three words I simply love

These ones do translate, but I can't leave them out. They are the words I keep coming back to as a poet:

• Натхнення (natkhnénnia) — inspiration. Doesn't it sound exactly like what it means?
• Мрія (mríia) — a dream, the kind you wish for. It was also the name of the An-225, the world's largest cargo plane, built in Ukraine.
• Тепло (tepló) — warmth, of the sun and of people. I think it's one of the most beautiful words in any language.

How to learn words like these

Untranslatable words are best learnt the way Ukrainians learn them: in context. Learn a phrase, not a single word — туга за домом, жага до життя, рідна мова — and notice when people use it in songs, films and conversation.

If you want to hear words like these used naturally — and start using them yourself — that's exactly what we do in my Ukrainian lessons online. New to the language? Start with my guide to learning Ukrainian.