# Weird Words around the World



## amikama

This article inspired me to open this thread. Please list here weird or especially interesting words (in your language or any other language).

I can think of several obscure words in (non-Modern) Hebrew that I bet that most of the Hebrew speakers have never heard them before, but nevertheless they are quite weird...

*תימוז* (_timoz_) - one whose eyelashes have fallen.
*קיין* (_kayan_) - one whose testicles are big.
*עקוד* (_'akod_) - an animal which the color of its ankles is different from the color of its fur.

I was told once that in Arabic there is a verb that means "buried his alive daughter"


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## Outsider

Hmm. Interesting, but this...



> Everyone knows that Inuit-speaking races can call on 30-odd words for snow.


...seems to be one of those things that "everyone knows", but is  actually wrong:



> I've forgotten a lot, but there is one thing I haven't forgotten: _There is only one good word for snow in Inuktitut._ It is "aput" in its canonical form - or at least it is in semi-standard Eastern Arctic Canadian Inuktitut. If you live in Greenland or anywhere west of Coppermine, your mileage may vary.
> 
> source


Also:



> SACANAGEM Brazilian Portuguese
> 
> Openly seeking sexual pleasure with one or more partners other than one's primary partner during Mardi Gras.


That's an excessively limited definition of "sacanagem" in BP. It doesn't have to be a search for sexual pleasure, and it doesn't have to happen during Mardi Gras.


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## Merlin

amikama said:
			
		

> Please list here weird or especially interesting words (in your language or any other language).


Well, I can share one word which is used in Tagalog (Philippine national Language) and in Pangasinan (Pangasinense which is a province in the Philippines) The word "wala" which in Tagalog means "none" while if it's used in Pangasinense, "wala" means "there is". It's really weird because most people get confused with this word. 


			
				amikama said:
			
		

> I was told once that in Arabic there is a verb that means "buried his alive daughter"


Oh my! What a verb!!!


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## martinemussies

Perhaps the Dutch word "soepkip" is a funny one to mention here.
Two characters from a Dutch tv-show for children started with it 
and now everyone around me seems to use this word. :s

Soep = soup
Kip = chicken

So.... they call each other "chicken that has to be put in the soup", I guess.


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## julienne

Merlin said:
			
		

> Well, I can share one word which is used in Tagalog (Philippine national Language) and in Pangasinan (Pangasinense which is a province in the Philippines) The word "wala" which in Tagalog means "none" while if it's used in Pangasinense, "wala" means "there is". It's really weird because most people get confused with this word.
> Oh my! What a verb!!!


 
parallel to merlin's thought...

In Filipino, egg = _itlog_; bird = _ibon_... now, in Kapampangan, a local dialect egg = _ebon_.  
Also, in Ilonggo, my native dialect, later = _karun_, now = _subong_; in Cebuano, still another dialect, _karun_ = now; later(in the day) = _subong_.   

And in the Island of Negros, in the Visayas, a question goes, "how far to the north can a dog(called _ido_ in Ilonggo) run? Ans: only until before the city of Sagay, when he enters Sagay, he is _iru _(thats dog in Cebuano).  


confusing.....


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## Roi Marphille

Hi! nice thread!

A funny word in Catalan is "cagadubtes". 
It is a person who is always in a dubiousness state..he is not confident about anything. 
The translation would be something like: "the one who shits doubts"

Salutacions, 
 Roi


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## Whodunit

Roi Marphille said:
			
		

> Hi! nice thread!
> 
> A funny word in Catalan is "cagadubtes".
> It is a person who is always in a dubiousness state..he is not confident about anything.
> The translation would be something like: "the one who shits doubts"
> 
> Salutacions,
> Roi


 
We have a similar word in German with another meaning: Klugscheißer (smart aleck)

It means something like "someone who shits intelligently"


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## cirrus

Following on from the scatalogical line there is a dialect word where I come from: "to churtle" (sorry I have no idea how it's spelt!)  It means to have a long, but not necessarily urgent, wee!  Strangely enough it doesn't seem to have made it into standard English.


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## Or_lando

amikama said:
			
		

> I was told once that in Arabic there is a verb that means "buried his alive daughter"


 
Yes, Amikama, it is the verb وأد (wa'ada) in Classical Arabic. There's also a passive participle for this verb موؤودة (maw'oodah) which refers to the daughter burried alive...

It is said to have been a common practice in the Pre-Islamic Arab culture, which was forbidden by Islam.


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## Josh_

A funny word in Egyptian Arabic is *يبعبص * (yiba3bas).  It means to poke between the buttocks with a finger, or more colloquially, to goose.


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## elroy

Josh Adkins said:
			
		

> A funny word in Egyptian Arabic is *يبعبص *(yiba3bas). It means to poke between the buttocks with a finger, or more colloquially, to goose.


 
In colloquial Palestinian Arabic, that means "to mess around with" ("to poke with the fingers") pretty much _anything_ - but it's vulgar.

It comes from "ba3buuS" , which is a vulgar word denoting the middle finger.  

Accordingly, a "ba3Sa"  is a bummer, an unfortunate circumstance - again, it's vulgar.


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## cherine

Interesting thread Amikama


			
				amikama said:
			
		

> *תימוז* (_timoz_) - one whose eyelashes have fallen.
> *קיין* (_kayan_) - one whose testicles are big.
> *עקוד* (_'akod_) - an animal which the color of its ankles is different from the color of its fur.
> 
> I was told once that in Arabic there is a verb that means "buried his alive daughter"


Yes you're right, and as Orlando said, the word is "wa-ada", it was such a common practice in the old time that it had its own verb. I recently heard that it's taking place in modern India, in some of the Indian cities  

As for the Hebrew words you gave, they're interesting as well. They reminded me of some Arabic words/adjectives :
Ashram أشرم : a person with a cut lip
Agda' أجدع : a person with a cut nose
Ahwar أحور (masculine) Hawraa' حوراء : A person with dark black eyes (this is supposed to be a sign of beauty, though I personally prefer brown eyes  )

I also found this :
shabam شَـبَم : the cold, the adjective is shabim شَبـِـم.
I was also amazed to find that there's a verb for opening the mouth : shaha شحا , but I think it means to open it very widely.
And, speaking of testicles : An animal whose one of the testicles is bigger than the other is called ashrag أشرج (it can be used for men too)

And there are many others, I'll post whatever I can remember or find in the dictionary


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## Laia

In Catalan, "somiatruites", literaly is something like "dreaming omeletes" and means that you are always dreaming, gullible...


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## Chaska Ñawi

The Hebrew and Arabic offerings have certainly opened my eyes.

While we're being scatalogical, I love this Spanish word (it may be archaic now) for a clerk, lawyer, etc.: _cagatinta_, or an ink-shitter.

Insect dung has its own word:  _frass_.  Dragon dung (should you find any) is a _fewmet_.  Rodents leave _miggles _in their wake.  

And, leaving the original idea a little behind, cows deposit _cow-patties_, and horses deposit _road apples_ or _meadow muffins_.


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## soup bowl

I know a few in English Bibliobibuli - someone who reads too much

Caseifaction - the act of turning into cheese
Serendipity - to find something you didn't know you were looking for,
    Avuncular - of or pertaining to an uncle. If you wish: "Uncle-like"

kalopsia - the delusion of things being more beautiful than they are.


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## Gavril

I've always liked Spanish _escarmentar _"to learn one's lesson" (also transitive, "to teach (someone) a lesson")


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## jazyk

You'll be delighted  to know that _escarmentar _is also Portuguese, but it's not a word I hear often in Brazil.


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## Rallino

In Turkish the word for "no" is: *Hayır*._ (Pronunced huh-year)_

But since 1950's, the "media" started using "yo" to mean No, so that the dubbing would rhyme with the original actor's mouth in English movies.

When the actor would cry: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO", instead of 'hayııııııııııır', we would hear: "YOOOOOOOOOOOO".


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## apmoy70

In Greek the vernacular for "I'm bored" is «βαριέμαι» (var'ʝeme), first person sing, indicative mood, mediopassive voice of verb «βαρώ» (va'ro)-->_ to bump, knock, smash, smite, whack_. «Bαριέμαι» lit. means _to bump, knock, smash, smite, whack myself  _


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## Gavril

Also, Welsh _gwylltio _"annoy", from the adjective _gwyllt _"wild". Not sure if there are parallels to this in other languages.


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## Saluton

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamihlapinatapai

A word I encountered in the Guinness Book of Records.

And about the article mentioned by the OP:
"ANGUSHTI ZA'ID Russian

Someone with six fingers."

This is complete rubbish. The Russian for "six-fingered" is шестипалый (shestip*a*lyi), but it's an occasionalism, just like "six-fingered". I found on the Internet that it's from Persian and actually means "too many fingers".


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## Dani1967

An interesting adjective in Spanish is:

_empalagoso_ : excessively sweet or rich

and the related reflexive verb:

_empalagarse _: to eat too much of a sweet thing / overdose on sweetness


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## HUMBERT0

Madre is Mother in Spanish.
However, in colloquial Mexican Spanish it can also mean insignificant.

Es una madrecita, it’s small, insignificant
¡Madres!, no te creo nada. (nothing/nihil!, I don't believe you anything)
But "madral" means a lot.
"En la madre", broke/busted something
"Desmadre", can mean disorder, disaster
"Madrear" is to hit/beat someone
"No tener madre" to be shameless, cynical
Weird how colloquial language is….


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## Lars H

On many festivals, fairs, construction sites and other places that are temporarily crowded, there is good use for portable toilet cabins, often standing in long rows.

These are in Swedish named "bajamaja" where "baja" is how small kids would say poop and "maja" a girls name.
There are other names like "hyrtoaletter" (rental toilets) or "portabla toaletter" but these names are not commonly used. Bajamaja is. I feel sorry for all Swedish girls named Maja


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## Nizo

The Esperanto verb _krokodili_ means to speak in one's native language instead of Esperanto at an Esperanto gathering.  Considered very rude, of course!


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## Mahaodeh

Merlin said:


> amikama said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was told once that in Arabic there is a verb that means "buried his alive daughter"
> 
> 
> 
> Oh my! What a verb!!!
Click to expand...




Or_lando said:


> Yes, Amikama, it is the verb وأد (wa'ada) in Classical Arabic. There's also a passive participle for this verb موؤودة (maw'oodah) which refers to the daughter burried alive...



This is not very accurate. The verb wa'ada means "to bury alive", regardless of the gender or age of the person being buried. Indeed, there was a pre-Islamic practice of burying their baby children alive, mostly girls; this practice was specifically pointed out and forbidden by Islam, hence the misconception.


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## sakvaka

Lars H said:


> On many festivals, fairs, construction sites and other places that are temporarily crowded, there is good use for portable toilet cabins, often standing in long rows.
> 
> These are in Swedish named "bajamaja" where "baja" is how small kids would say poop and "maja" a girls name.
> There are other names like "hyrtoaletter" (rental toilets) or "portabla toaletter" but these names are not commonly used. Bajamaja is. I feel sorry for all Swedish girls named Maja



Really? That's interesting, because the word is used in Finnish as well. I always thought there was a connection with _maja_ ('hut').


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## Lars H

sakvaka said:


> Really? That's interesting, because the word is used in Finnish as well. I always thought there was a connection with _maja_ ('hut').



Hej

I think that is a coincidence. It seems that many of these are made by Bajamaja AB, a Swedish company based in Skåne, and that this name was so catchy that it replaced all others in daily use.
And then I suppose they discovered that the physical needs are the same on both sides of Pohjanmeri


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## hui

> And then I suppose they discovered that the physical needs are the same on both sides of Pohjanmeri


You mean _Pohjanlahti_ (Bottenviken; Gulf of Bothnia) or  _Selkämeri_ (Bottenhavet; Bothnian Sea), not _Pohjanmeri_ (Nordsjön; North Sea).


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## Lars H

hui said:


> You mean _Pohjanlahti_ (Bottenviken; Gulf of Bothnia) or  _Selkämeri_ (Bottenhavet; Bothnian Sea), not _Pohjanmeri_ (Nordsjön; North Sea).



Yes, I do...
My mistake. I know that Pohjanmeri equals Nordsjön and not Bottenviken, but that doesn't help when I'm careless in my writing.


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## mataripis

To the Filipinos, ethnic words are weird to their sounds, it is an ancient language that become solid or compressed in a grammar.* English: I don't like the bad mannered person. **Tagalog: Hindi ako sang ayon sa taong may masamang pag uugali. ***De pa DUMAGET(ethnic language)  Nagkapoy ok de agta a te mamalot a ugeli. (If read by native speaker) Nagkapoyok de agta ate mamalota uwgeli.


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## ancalimon

Turkish and and Azeri language are very similar languages but there are some words which mean totally different things.

For example:

Azeri: yarak tüccarı: weapons dealer
Turkish: yarak tüccarı: penis (vulgar) dealer

Azeri: Kerhaneci:  factory manager
Turkish: Kerhaneci: brothel manager


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## Favara

Another weird Catalan word:
*Cagabandúrries* roughly translates to "the one who shits banjos". It's an insult, of course.


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## Encolpius

I think one of interesting *Hungarian *words is: *fehérmájú *[lit.: with white liver] and is means a horny woman. I wonder why with white liver.


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## Grefsen

Lars H said:


> On many festivals, fairs, construction sites and other places that are temporarily crowded, there is good use for portable toilet cabins, often standing in long rows.
> 
> These are in Swedish named "bajamaja" where "baja" is how small kids would say poop and "maja" a *girl's* name.
> There are other names like "hyrtoaletter" (rental toilets) or "portabla toaletter" but these names are not commonly used. Bajamaja is.


That is really weird. 



Lars H said:


> I feel sorry for all Swedish girls named Maja


Me too.  


In American English these "portable toilet cabins" are often called "porta potties."


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## Youngfun

The word "ciao" is the quintessential Italian word. But ironically, if you go to Rome, young boys don't say "ciao", they say "bella" (feminine adjective: beautiful) instead, when greeting other boys.
When said to a girl, its original meaning returns: beautiful girl.

In Chinese almost all insults have "egg" : 笨蛋 (stupid egg), 坏蛋 (bad egg), 傻蛋 (dumb egg), 王八蛋 (turtle's egg).
Probably turtle's egg is the weirdest.
王八蛋 is pronounced wang2 ba1 dan4, some people say it derives from 忘八端 wang4 ba1 duan1 - which means: to forget the 8 virtues of Confucianisms: filial piety, brotherhood, loyalty, trust, etiquette, righteousness, integrity, shamefulness.

But 乌龟 (turtle) alone is also an insult, it means "betrayed husband/wife", similarly to the Italian "cornuto" and the Spanish "chifrudo".


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## Encolpius

Youngfun said:


> The word "ciao" is the quintessential Italian word. But ironically, if you go to Rome, young boys don't say "ciao", they say "bella" (feminine adjective: beautiful) instead, when greeting other boys......



Young boys only? What do you mean by young boys?


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## Youngfun

I would say male people, below 30 years old.
It's young people's slang.


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## Abu Rashid

amikama said:


> I was told once that in Arabic there is a verb that means "buried his alive daughter"



The verb is "to bury alive", not specifically a daughter, and it was used in the Qur'an in condemnation of the pre-Islamic practices of the Pagan Arabs in the feminine passive participle as mentioned above, which does in effect refer to "the daughter buried alive".


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## Grefsen

Lars H said:


> On many festivals, fairs, construction sites and other places that are temporarily crowded, there is good use for portable toilet cabins, often standing in long rows.
> 
> These are in Swedish named "bajamaja" where "baja" is how small kids would say poop and "maja" a girls name.
> There are other names like "hyrtoaletter" (rental toilets) or "portabla toaletter" but these names are not commonly used. Bajamaja is.


Since these "portable toilet cabins" are used so much at festivals, in Norwegian they are often called *"festivaltoaletter" *or *"festivaldoer"* (Both "*toaletter"* and "*do" *are Norwegian words for toilet, but *"do"* is more informal.)


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## puny_god

One odd Filipino word for me is "gigil". I can't seem to find a close enough translation for it.
It's that feeling when you see a very cute baby and you want to pinch his cheeks because he's just so darn cute.
But then it can also be feeling of seething anger at something or someone. 
I always find it hard to explain, oh well


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## apmoy70

In Greek, when something must be done very quickly, it must be done _unblinkingly_: *«ασκαρδαμυκτί»* [askarðami'kti] (adv.)

*«Ασκαρδαμυκτί»* [askarðami'kti] (adv.) < Classical adv. *«ἀσκαρδαμυκτὶ» ăskărdămūktì* --> _without winking, unblinkingly_ < compound, privative prefix *«ἀ-» *[a-] + Classical v. *«σκαρδαμύσσω» skărdămússō* (Attic variant *«καρδαμύττω» kărdămúttō*) --> _to blink/wink/twinkle_ (with obscure etymology, possibly pre-Greek)


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## Ёж!

puny_god said:


> But then it can also be feeling of seething anger at something or someone.


 But the link between the two meanings is extremely obvious, isn't it?  If something is seething out of your mind, it can be affection, anger, or yet anything else.


apmoy70 said:


> In Greek, when something must be done very quickly, it must be done _unblinkingly_: *«ασκαρδαμυκτί»* [askarðami'kti] (adv.)


How funny.  In Russian, this means that someone would do something without reckoning too much about ethics or something else. Or, alternatively, that someone would do something very quickly. But this is a stable expression, not a stable word; it is «не моргнув глазом».


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## arielipi

apmoy70 said:


> In Greek, when something must be done very quickly, it must be done _unblinkingly_: *«ασκαρδαμυκτί»* [askarðami'kti] (adv.)
> 
> *«Ασκαρδαμυκτί»* [askarðami'kti] (adv.) < Classical adv. *«ἀσκαρδαμυκτὶ» ăskărdămūktì* --> _without winking, unblinkingly_ < compound, privative prefix *«ἀ-» *[a-] + Classical v. *«σκαρδαμύσσω» skărdămússō* (Attic variant *«καρδαμύττω» kărdămúttō*) --> _to blink/wink/twinkle_ (with obscure etymology, possibly pre-Greek)



We have something similar in hebrew, כהרף עין keheref ayin.


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## puny_god

Ёж! said:


> But the link between the two meanings is extremely obvious, isn't it?  If something is seething out of your mind, it can be affection, anger, or yet anything else.


 Yup, you are right. That's why it's a really odd word. It does not have an exact English equivalent and it's got different meanings.


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## AutumnOwl

Abu Rashid said:


> The verb is "to bury alive", not specifically a daughter, and it was used in the Qur'an in condemnation of the pre-Islamic practices of the Pagan Arabs in the feminine passive participle as mentioned above, which does in effect refer to "the daughter buried alive".


Swedish has the word "änglamakerska" (angel maker), used about women who took foster children, usually born out of wedlock, and let them die by starvation and mistreatment. It was of course illegal, but it did happen to until at least 1917, when a "änglamakerska" was sentenced to death for child murders.


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## apmoy70

Τhere are a few strange words in Greek, both dialectal and in the Standard language:

-*«Ζνίχι»* [ˈz̠niçi] (neut.) an obsolete Demotic Greek word, and the only one that starts with the cluster -ζν- /zn/ in MoGr, which describes the _nape of the neck, back of the neck, scruff_ < Byz.Gr. *«ζινίχιον» ziníkhion* (idem), a neuter deverbative from the Classical athematic v. *«ζεύγνῡμι» zeúɡnūmĭ*.
-*«Φωτοσβέστης»* [fo̞to̞ˈz̠ve̞s̠tis̠] (masc.), *«φωτοσβέστρια»* [fo̞to̞ˈz̠ve̞s̠tri.a] (fem.) --> _obscurantist_, lit. _liɡht-extinɡuisher_, a compound = MoGr neut. noun *«φως»* [fo̞s̠] --> _light_ < Classical neuter noun *«φάος/φῶς»** pʰắŏs* (uncontracted)/*pʰôs* (contracted) + MoGr v. *«σβήνω»* [ˈz̠vino̞] --> _to put out, extinɡuish, quench_ < Classical athematic v. *«σβέννῡμι» sbénnūmĭ*.
-*«Λυμεώνας»* [lime̞ˈo̞nas̠] (masc. and fem.) --> _destroyer_ < Classical masc. and fem. adj. *«λυμεών» lŭmĕṓn* (idem) < Classical feminine noun *«λύμη» lúmē* --> _dirt, waste, garbage_, metaph. _mutilation, flagellation, damage, violation, revilement_ (from PIE *luH- _to pollute_ cf. Lat. lutum, Proto-Celtic *lutā, _dirt, mud_, Alb. lum, _slime, mud_).
-*«Αμπουρδέχτης»* [aburˈðe̞xtis̠] (masc.) --> _rainwater tank_ (in the dialect of the Cyclades islands), a compound = dialectal *«άμπουρος»* [ˈabuɾo̞s̠] (masc.) --> _rain water, steam_ < Classical masc. noun *«ὄμβρος» ómbrŏs* + masc. *«δέχτης»* [ˈðe̞xtis] --> _collector, tank_ which is the dissimilation of the Classical deverbative masc. *«δέκτης» déktēs* (idem) < Classical deponent v. *«δέχομαι» dékʰŏmai*.
-*«Πνάκι»* [ˈpnaci] (neut.) --> _plate, dish_ (NW dialects) < Classical neut. *«πινάκιον» pĭnắkĭŏn*.
-*«Χλιάρα»* [ˈxʎaɾa] (fem.) --> _ladle_ (NW dialects) < Byzantine neut. diminutive *«κοχλιάριον» kokhliárion* --> _a kind of spoon used for eating in the Early Byzantine period_ < Classical masc. noun *«κοχλίας» kŏkʰlíās* (which means spoon amonɡ others).


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## Yendred

For me, some weird words in French are the names of what we call _légumes oubliés _(forgotten vegetables), those vegetables which were commonly eaten in the past, then forgotten, and go through a recent revival. They are rare words, and we usually don't exactly know what they are. For example: _rutabaga__, __topinambour__, __crosne__, __panais_


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## Włoskipolak 72

In Polish  rzeczywiście [ˌʒɛʧ̑ɨˈvʲiɕʨ̑ɛ], means  actually , in fact .. , but if you divide this adverb : rzeczy (things) and wiście (hang) the result is ;


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