Show HN: Words that don't translate

As I have learned more about these “untranslatable” words, I’ve found that they often give a glimpse into that particular culture which I think is pretty cool. I wanted a way to discover more of these words, and even compare them across cultures.

So today, I built this searchable web app of words that don't translate (as part of the 24h startup challenge).

Ανάγκη = need/necessity. Φιλοξενία = hospitality. Πνεύμα = spirit. Ok, it may mean breath, too, but only in songs or poems. If might raise some eyebrows in everyday speech. Usual word for breath = ανάσα or more uncommonly, πνοή. Σωφροσύνη = prudence? That's the only one that doesn't translate perfectly.

For words that really don't translate (to English at least) look up καημός, παλικάρι, μεράκι .

One improvement I immediatly thought of: Usually you cannot say/know that one word cannot be translated to ANY other language, because nobody knows all languages. But what you actually can know is that a word in one language does not exist in one other language. You know that if you speak these two languages. So storing triples makes more sense, I think.

Example: Because I speak german and french, I can surely say that the german word 'satt' (meaning: not hungry anymore) does not have an equivalent in french. But I have no idea if it exits in japanese. Someone else knowing german and japanese has to fill this gap.

There are also duplicates in your Database like 'Kummerspeck'.

For example:

Fremdschämen To be embarrassed by something somebody else did German

Myötähäpeä in Finnish (alongshame when literally translated)