# Gezellig



## sukie310

I was wondering (from native speakers) if there is a word in English that actually captures or comes close to capturing the essence of this word or if English just doesn't have a word to fully do so.  Thanks!


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## Ingrid

sukie310 said:


> I was wondering (from native speakers) if there is a word in english that actually captures or comes close to capturing the essence of this word or if english just doesn't have a word to fully do so.  Thanks!



Hello sukie,
First of all, *gezellig* has two "l" and is one of those words that doesn't have an equivalent in all languages and you need two or three adjectives to fully describe it. Fortunately, as far as the English is concerned, it does, and means *cosy*.
Good luck!


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## Suehil

I'm sorry, I have to disagree.  'Cosy' approaches the meaning sometimes, but it is very far from being an adequate translation of all the uses of 'gezellig'.  There is no single translation into English and, believe me, I have been searching for one for over thirty years.


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## Joannes

I don't think that *gezellig* would have a meaning that is too complicated to capture. It's often just over-used in a way that it _doesn't_ have a specific meaning anymore -- obviously this kind of words are very handy in many many contexts, but hardly translatable. I would recommend you just to try to say what you _really_ mean, and translate that.  If it's 'gezellig' in a narrow sense, it's *cosy*, if that's not quite it, then try to think of something with a 'real' meaning.


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## SonicXT

I can't think of that many uses for gezellig anyway.
The only meaning I can come up is *cosy* and I don't use it for any other situation except perhaps expressing irony

F.i. 
- Daarom gaan z'n ouders scheiden
- Ja ook gezellig ...
_- That's why his parents are getting divorced
- Yea, just great ..._

Guess it must be a Dutch thing to overuse that word and use it for other things such as expressing fun etc.


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## sukie310

Thanks for all the responses... I was under the impression it was more than cozy, sort of intangible to express... For instance, I've heard people in Amsterdam refer to Amsterdam as gezellig (thanks for the correction Ingrid),  now Amsterdam is a big city but does have a cozy feel to it but also something just a little extra..   In English, some people use the word delicious as it relates to someone, "my nephew is just a delicious boy!  delicious is not being used in the lekker sense  but sort of the way I think gezellig is used... intangibly... He is more than delightful, more than adorable... hard to describe. Does this make sense?


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## Suehil

'Ze is een gezellige meid' - the nearest I can think of is 'she is good company'.  

The word 'gezellig' implies good company combined with cosiness combined with nice in general.


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## sukie310

Thank you all for your responses... clearly the consensus is cozy (the American spelling of the word).


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