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 |
|---|---|
| couxio | S. Amer. name for the black saki monkey |
| crembalum | Latin, a jew's-harp |
| cremone | French, cremone bolt for casements |
| crepine | French, a crape fringe or trimming |
| cretion | Latin law, formal acceptance of an inheritance |
| criophoros | Greek, "ram-bearer" |
| crivetz | Romanian, a cold northeast wind |
| cuamuchil | Mex. Spanish, Pithecellobium dulce tree |
| cuapinole | Mex. Spanish, the courbaril tree |
| cuartino | Spanish, a quarter measure of liquid |
| cuchia | Hindi, the Indian mud eel |
| cucuyo | Cuban Spanish, luminous click-beetle |
| cudava | Sanskrit kudava, Indian measure of capacity |
| culbut | French, a somersault or upset |
| cullay | Chilean Spanish, the soap-bark tree |
| cumara | Tupi, the tonka-bean tree |
| cumbha | Sanskrit, a water-jar |
| cumbly | Anglo-Indian, coarse woollen blanket |
| cumly | Anglo-Indian, coarse blanket (cumbly) |
| cungeboi | Australian Aboriginal, the cunjevoi |
| cungevoi | Australian Aboriginal, the cunjevoi |
| cupay | Antillean Spanish, the copey tree |
| cupiuba | Brazilian Port., the Goupia timber tree |
| curatel | Du./Ger. kuratel, legal guardianship |
| curiboca | Brazilian Port., of black-Indian descent |
| curratow | S. American, a bromeliad fibre, silk-grass |
| curua | Tupi, a Brazilian palm (Attalea) |
| curucucu | Tupi, the bushmaster snake |
| curucui | Tupi, a Brazilian trogon |
| curupay | Guarani, a S. American Anadenanthera tree |
| curupey | Guarani, variant name of the curupay tree |
| daboya | Hindi, Russell's viper |
| dabuh | Arabic, the hyena |
| dadouchos | Greek, torch-bearer at the Eleusinian rites |
| dagassa | Amharic, finger millet, Eleusine coracana |
| daguilla | Cuban Spanish, a fiber-yielding tree |
| daijo | name of the greater yam, Dioscorea alata |
| daktylon | Greek, a finger's breadth |
| daktylos | Greek, a finger, a dactyl |
| damnificatus | Latin law, the party who has suffered damage |
| dapicho | Orinoco native word, a kind of caoutchouc |
| darbha | Sanskrit, the sacred kusa grass |
| darbukka | Arabic, a goblet-shaped drum |
| daribah | Arabic, an Egyptian dry measure of grain |
| darogah | Persian and Hindi, a police superintendent |
| daroo | Arabic, the Egyptian sycamore fig |
| darwan | Hindi and Persian, a doorkeeper |
| dattock | West African, the tree Detarium senegalense |
| dayanim | Hebrew, "judges" (pl. of dayan) |
| decadrachma | Gk./L., ten-drachma coin |
| decadrachmae | L. plural, ten-drachma coins |
| decastylos | Gk., ten-columned portico |
| deciatine | Russian land measure, the dessiatine |
| decussoria | L. pl. of decussorium, surgical depressor |
| deinos | Gk., round-bottomed wine bowl |
| deisidaimonia | Gk., superstition, fear of the gods |
| demiourgoi | Greek, plural of demiourgos, "craftsmen, magistrates" |
| demisang | French demi-sang, a half-bred horse |
| demisangue | French/Italian, half-blood, a half-bred horse |
| demisolde | French demi-solde, half-pay (officer) |
| demivierge | French demi-vierge, a "half-virgin" |
| deota | Hindi devata, a god or deity |
| depas | Greek depas, a two-handled drinking cup |
| deplorabilia | mock-Latin, deplorable things |
| derah | Arabic, a cubit, unit of length |
| derbukka | Arabic darbukka, a goblet drum |
| determa | Guianese, the red louro timber tree |
| deurwaarder | Dutch, bailiff or process-server |
| devaraja | Sanskrit, god-king |
| devarshi | Sanskrit, a divine sage |
| devchar | Marathi, a village spirit or deity |
| dhabb | Arabic, the spiny-tailed lizard |
| dhai | Hindi, a nurse or midwife |
| dhamnoo | Hindi, an Indian Grewia tree |
| dhanush | Hindi, a bow |
| dharmashastra | Sanskrit, a Hindu law treatise |
| dharmasmriti | Sanskrit, remembered law text |
| dharmasutra | Sanskrit, aphoristic law text |
| dhaura | Hindi, the Anogeissus tree |
| dhauri | Hindi, an Indian flowering tree |
| dhava | Hindi, the Anogeissus latifolia tree |
| dhaw | Hindi, the dhaw or dhava tree |
| dheri | Hindi, a mound or tumulus |
| dhobee | Hindi, a washerman, dhobi |
| dhobey | Hindi, a washerman, dhobi |
| dhotee | Hindi, a dhoti loincloth |
| dhoul | Arabic, a ghoul or demon |
| dhyal | Hindi, the Indian magpie-robin |
| diaconicum | Latin, the sacristy of a Greek church |
| diadoumenos | Greek, youth binding a fillet, a statue type |
| diaetetae | Latin, physicians of the dietetic school |
| diakonika | Greek, sacristies, plural of diakonikon |
| diakonikon | Greek, sacristy of an Orthodox church |
| diallela | Latin, circular arguments, pl. of diallelon |
| dialleli | Latin, plural of diallelus, circular argument |
| diallelon | Greek, a circular definition or argument |
| diaphonia | Latin, dissonance in medieval music |
| dicerion | Greek, two-branched liturgical candlestick |
| didascalos | Greek, "teacher" |
| dieugard | French dieu (vous) gard, a greeting |
The other lists filed alongside this one.
