# pins and needles; to fall asleep (a limb)



## elpoderoso

Hola a todos
Quisiera saber cómo se llama ''pins and needles'' en sus lenguas. 
En Inglés se usa esta expresión para describir una sensibilidad en las pies cuando no se ha movidolas durante un rato.
por favor corregidme mis faltas.
Gracias E.P


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## Chazzwozzer

*Turkish:
karıncalanma*
or
*uyuşma
*


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## elpoderoso

Thanks. I'm sorry i should have stated in my first post if you could tell me if your idiom actually means word for word ''pins and needles'' or if it has some other meaning in English.


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## Ilmo

In *Finnish* there is no such expression.
We simply use the verb *pistellä* (= to prick) in a non-personal mode: *jalkapohjiani pistelee* (= my soles are pricked). There is no subject, "jalkapohjiani" is the object in partitive case, can be in singular or in plural, as here) and the verb is in 3rd person singular.


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## Chazzwozzer

elpoderoso said:


> Thanks. I'm sorry i should have stated in my first post if you could tell me if your idiom actually means word for word ''pins and needles'' or if it has some other meaning in English.


No, it's not word for word.

*karıncalanma* literally means "ant_inization__". I know such word does not exist in English, but it's how I can translate it.

_*uyuşma*, I can say, means numbness.

Only these two word can be used to correspond to English idiom, pins and needles.


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## elpoderoso

Thanks but I don't think uyusma would apply, as ''pins and needles'' refers only to the prickly feeling in the foot not the numbness.
For the numbness you could say ''My foot has gone to sleep'' in English, so i suppose you can add your languages' version of this also.


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## Outsider

In Portuguese, we don't have this expression, either. I've heard:
_En portugués, tampoco tenemos esta expresión. He oído:_

_dormente_ (numb/sleeping)
_picando_ (prickling)
_com formigueiro_ (lit. with ants)


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## Venezuelan_sweetie

Spanish and Portuguese share similar grounds on this too.

For LatAm Spanish, it would be:
- Hormigueo (That sensation of ants walking on your skin).
- Calambre (Cramp, I suppose)
- Dormir (sleep) --> Se me durmió la pierna => My leg has gone to sleep.

There are others, but for some strange reason, I tend to forget idioms when I mean to explain them...


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## linguist786

In *Gujarati*, we say "khaali", which is also the word for "empty". I'm not sure whether there is any connection though. Maybe it does, and it suggests you have an "empty" feeling? . I'm not too sure. To be honest, I've just been brought up to call it "khaali" in Gujarati. I've never really connected it (in my mind) to "khaali" (empty).

I'm not too sure what the word is in Hindi/Urdu, but I'll try and find out.


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## Thomas1

In *Polish*we say 
_czuć mrowienie -- to feel "anting" _for _to have pins and needles_.

If you want to say _to be on_ _pins and needles _we would say _siedzieć jak na szpilakch _(to sit like on pins).


Tom


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## Alijsh

*Cambridge*: _If someone has *pins and needles* in a part of their body they feel slight sharp pains in it, usually just after they have moved from being still in one position for a long time._


Say it has happened in one's foot: "*pâhâyam khâb rafte ast*" (litterally: my feet have gone to sleep). The feeling you have is "*suzan suzan shodan*". (to get needle-needle) *Suzan* means needle in Persian.


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## amikama

Hebrew:

The sensation itself is called *נמלול* (_nimlul_). This word derives from נמלה (_nemala_) which means "ant".

To say "my leg has gone to sleep": *הרגל שלי נרדמה* (_ha-regel sheli nirdema_).


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## Flaminius

*Japanese:
*
The sensation is _shibire_.  This is also a technical term for paraesthesia.

To say "my leg has gone to sleep": 足がしびれた (ashi-ga shibireta).


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## roh3x2n

Farsi

needle = sozan 
pin = sinjaaq


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## CrazyArcher

In Russian a verb "затечь" is used in this context, like in "Моя нога затекла". The word literally means something like "to become full of liquids" (although I'm sure there's a better explanation)


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## kt_81

It's interesting to see that actually pretty unrelated languages have the connotation of body parts "falling asleep". It also exists in German and Russian.

In German it is "einschlafen" (fall asleep)
- Mein Bein ist eingeschlafen
- Mir ist das Bein eingeschlafen

In Russian besides "затечь" (@CrazyArcher), one can also say "заснуть" (fall asleep)
- Моя нога заснула


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## karuna

I don't really understand this but I gues it means what in Latvian is called _notirpums. _
But it is not different from numbness. _Mana kāja ir notirpusi. – My leg has become numb. 
_


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## daoxunchang

I don't think we have any set expression for this in Chinese.


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## Vagabond

In Greek you would say μούδιασμα (moudiasma) = numbness

or

μυρμήγκιασμα (mirmeegkiasma) = that comes from the word μυρμήγκι (ant), and it is supposed to describe the feeling of ants walking on a part of your body, a pricklish feeling.


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## Maja

In Serbian:

to be on pins and needles -> sedeti kao na iglama
pins and needles -> mravci (dim. of "mravi" - ants) / trnci (thorns) 
my foot is falling asleep -> trne mi noga / imam mravke u nozi
I have gooseflesh -> podilaze me mravci  / žmarci


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## Mutichou

In French, we say: “_J'ai des fourmis dans les jambes._” It literally means “I have ants in my legs.”


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## elpoderoso

Thanks for your replies, I notice quite a few are ant related, but are there any languages which have anything like ''needles and pins''?


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## jonquiliser

In Swedish there is the verb 'att domna' which you use for some part of your body that is getting pins and needles. You can also use, in some cases, the noun 'domning(ar)'. This anyway is sort of what preceeds the pins and needles, similar to the Spanish 'dormir'. I believe there is no specific word for the pins and needles, you'd simple say that your leg/foot whatever 'has gone numb' (ie, 'domnat'). 

To have ants in your legs (or trousers) is in Swedish quite the opposite, it means you can't sit still and are very restless or energetic.


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## Vagabond

jonquiliser said:


> To have ants in your legs (or trousers) is in Swedish quite the opposite, it means you can't sit still and are very restless or energetic.


Interesting. We have a slangish expression like that in Greek too, meaning one has ants on his butt. It means exactly what you describe.


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## kusurija

In Czech:
to be on pins and needles -> sedět jako na jehlách(needles)
pins and needles -> mravenčení (mravenec - ant) 
my foot is falling asleep -> přeseděl/přeležel jsem si nohu.
needle=jehla
pin=špendlík

In Lithuanian:
to be on pins and needles -> sedėt kaip ant adatų(needles)
pins and needles -> (nu)tirpimas(numbness)
my foot is falling asleep -> mano koja nutirpo. (My leg has become numb.)


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## Mahaodeh

In Arabic:

pins and needles (literally) = ibar wa dababees.
pins and needles (the pricky feeling) = tanmeel = a verbal noun that literally means "it has ants in it" but is used for the pricky feeling.
my foot is falling asleep = takhaddarat rijli = my foot has become numb.


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## Nizo

In *Esperanto* there is a verb _formiki_(which comes from the root word _formiko_, meaning "ant") which means to feel a swarming ticklishness in an arm or leg after the compression of a nerve or blood vessel.  The sensation itself is called _formikado_.  (The definition, translated from Esperanto, comes from the most comprehensive monolingual Esperanto dictionary, the _Nova Plena Ilustrita Vortaro._)


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## apmoy70

Greek:

Deverbative noun *«μυρμήγκιασμα»* [mirˈmiɲ.ɟaz.ma] (neut.) --> _the feeling of ants walking on a limb_ < ΜοGr v. *«μυρμηγκιάζω»* [mir.miɲˈɟa.zɔ] --> _to feel ants on a limb_ < MoGr noun *«μυρμήγκι»* [mirˈmiɲ.ɟi] (neut.) --> _ant_ < Byz.Gr diminutive neut. noun *«μυρμήκι(ο)ν» myrmḗki(o)n* of the "difficult" Classical 3rd declension masc. noun *«μύρμηξ» múrmēk͜s* (nom. sing.), *«μύρμηκος» múrmēkŏs* (gen. sing.).


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