Vocabulary Challenge: One-Word Concepts without direct translation.

Question

Thanks to everyone who has participated in this thread. I never imagined that it would be so popular! For that reason, I decided to change it's name. Two weeks later, the "Weekend Challenge" title doesn't seem to make so much sense anymore!

A couple of days ago I came across one of those wonderful English words that expresses a complex concept in a single word. There are many words like these in English and Spanish, which are very succinct in the original language, but must be translated as two or more words.

For example, the word I read is "Jailbreak", which means "el acto de escapar de prisión" in Spanish.

Likewise, there is "Alunizar" in Spanish, which means "moon landing".

So the challenge is to come up with words like these, in either language: single words that can only be translate as two or more words as illustrated above, and provide the translation.

The words must appear in a reputable English or Spanish dictionary - no made-up words allowed!

Please limit yourself to one word per post, writing the translation next to it.

Bonus challenge! If you can show that a valid, one-word translation exists for any of the posted words, please write a comment and send the poster directly to the dunce corner!!

---

I have edited the translation to "jailbreak" to avoid the confusions that Izanoni explained that could crop out. I hope it is clearer now.

Excellent idea! - Jsanthara, Jul 23, 2010

great idea :) - 00b6f46c, Jul 23, 2010

Rethink the Bonus Challenge ... you want EveryOne to try ... even the easily intimidated! - LateToDinner, Jul 23, 2010

Of course, that won't bother those that already have engraved chairs there - LateToDinner, Jul 23, 2010

Gotta earn those reputation points! No pain, no gain! Besides, the Dunce Corner is not such a bad place. There's good company in there! :-) - Gekkosan, Jul 23, 2010

I'll have to check back in on this one ... I hope you have a 'runaway' best seller! - LateToDinner, Jul 23, 2010

So Patch is on his way to the DC and you have a bonus comming ... I'll have to call a friend and tell them to vote the game so you get your bonus. - LateToDinner, Jul 23, 2010

Hey, Patch! Vote for this game ... um actually, he might not be a friend anymore. Oh, sure he is if he doesn't roll onto his new badges. - LateToDinner, Jul 23, 2010

See? Patch's allright. Now let's see what *you* come up with!! - Gekkosan, Jul 23, 2010

Oh, okay. Ready? starts with A and ends 27 letters later with M ... let us see if anyone guesses it faster than I can correctly spell it. - LateToDinner, Jul 23, 2010

@Late -Glad you got in the spirit of it. You were doing honor to your name an dposting quite late - the mail notifications woke up very early this morning! :-) - Gekkosan, Jul 24, 2010

Had to check out the competition, you know, observe a little - LateToDinner, Jul 24, 2010

oye, no sabía que se podía pedir que no se vote, pues yo paso, junto con latetodinner, que nos vamos a cenar juntos, hala! lol - 00494d19, Jul 25, 2010

I am very disappointed that my dictionary is disreputable. - Sabor, Apr 24, 2011

@Sabor: Well, better to find out and bear the shock, than to live an eternal lie, I say. :-) - Gekkosan, Apr 24, 2011

Answer 1

Serendipity - descubrimiento fortuito de algo muy bello

- the effect by which one accidentally stumbles upon something fortunate, especially while looking for something entirely unrelated. The word has been voted as one of the ten English words that were hardest to translate .

We don't use it much here in NZ infact I don't think I've ever heard anyone use it hear but I have heard it on movies and when I learnt what it mean thought that it was kind of kool

Shame this game wasn't competing for the word which took the most words to translate or describe lol

Ohh, you're **such** a smart-aleck! Just because you live in a gorgeous place you think you can keep digging gems like that, huh!? Excellent! :-D - Gekkosan, Jul 23, 2010

jaja sorry it just popped into my head when I wasn't even looking for it lol - how's that for serendipity :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 23, 2010

very funny, coming from someone being in the place to find serenpidity:) - Silvia, Jul 24, 2010

Although unserependipitous for Maria-Claire, Collins Spanish-English dictionary defines serendipity as serependismo; Google Translate defines it as serendipia. But La Real Academia recognizes neither. Hopefuly that saves you from dunce corner. - Parrandero, Jul 24, 2010

Is it defined and an anglicism, perhpas? I am disinclined to condem words that are imported from the other language, such as "machismo". - Gekkosan, Jul 24, 2010

saved by the bell lol ") Thanx G - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 24, 2010

or by the 'beau' ;) - galsally, Jul 25, 2010

Reptile knight in shining armor, if you must! ;-) - Gekkosan, Jul 25, 2010

Serendipitous is one of my favorite words; I use it often. - Lrtward, Jul 25, 2010

Answer 2

Antidisestablishmentarianism

longest common example of a word formed by agglutinative construction

(forget about using aggluntinate ... en español - aglutinar)

When it was proposed that the Church of England be disestablished, those opposed became part of a politcal movement that became known as the antidisestablishmentarianism.

RAE:

Aviso: La palabra antidisestablishmentarianism no está en el Diccionario.

Up there with Maria-Claire's Serendipity. Nice one! - Gekkosan, Jul 24, 2010

7.24/12/729 - LateToDinner, Jul 24, 2010

What's that supposed to mean! :-o - Gekkosan, Jul 24, 2010

What? Antidisestablishmentarianism? Phew, no idea! - LateToDinner, Jul 24, 2010

No, no - the 7.24 thing... - Gekkosan, Jul 25, 2010

ANTI..........what are you joking i can't even spell it ! how can you write that word ! - 00b6f46c, Jul 27, 2010

Answer 3

Brainwash - lavado de cerebro

Ah,¡buena esa! - Gekkosan, Jul 24, 2010

Surprising that it translates so similarly when the brain is really not ¨washed¨. - Lrtward, Jul 25, 2010

Answer 4

desayunar - To have breakfast

Ah-hah! We may have the first fail here! "Breakfast" also works as a verb, so you can breakfast on eggs and toast! What do you all say? Do we send Patch to the Dunce Corner? :-D - Gekkosan, Jul 23, 2010

Patch, I'd like to defend you ... he is right though ... consolation? You might get enough comments on this to get a new badge out of it! - LateToDinner, Jul 23, 2010

Awww c'mon - who really uses the verb "to breakfast" - ltd - back me up here, mate - patch, Jul 23, 2010

Late's right. Besides, the best parties are at the DC! - Gekkosan, Jul 23, 2010

That's what the bonus challenge is all about! Find the flaw. Sorry, mate. Get your pointy hat on, already! ;-) - Gekkosan, Jul 23, 2010

...okay, okay - I'm going (blub pout, blub whinge) ;) - patch, Jul 23, 2010

Somebody used "good sport" in one of the other games and I knew I should have written it down. Rats. But no more pouting. - LateToDinner, Jul 23, 2010

Going to bed. Back tomorrow. Still pouting. Good night. - patch, Jul 23, 2010

Careful you don't toss and turn too much there may actually be a couple of badges in there! - LateToDinner, Jul 23, 2010

Congratulations on the first one. - LateToDinner, Jul 23, 2010

Congratulations on the second one as well! (Spanish Comedy!) ;) - LateToDinner, Jul 23, 2010

I'm waiting to see your contribution, Late... >:-] - Gekkosan, Jul 23, 2010

You don't want to see my word! Sorry I left in such a hurry, the wife called and said do you want to go out to dinner! - LateToDinner, Jul 23, 2010

So are you saying you had to "dinner" with your wife? - canicos, Jul 24, 2010

No, I dined with my wife, and we had dinner together, rare these days due to conflicting schedules. - LateToDinner, Jul 24, 2010

But if you were speaking up on Patch's behalf, too late, that mean evil Gekko sent him packing! - LateToDinner, Jul 24, 2010

@patch - you have my support here "breakfast" is a noun in British English at least. - ian-hill, Jul 24, 2010

@Ian, it is both. :-) Patch can come out now. Get a vote for being a "good sport" ;-) - Gekkosan, Jul 24, 2010

Ahhhh - back into the light of day :-) - patch, Jul 24, 2010

Patch, I pushed you to 5 votes, it counts in my book! You need all of those words for the verb to make sense. - amykay, Jul 24, 2010

Bless you Amy. 3 badges and 5 votes - I should make more mistakes jejeje - patch, Jul 25, 2010

During my next visit to New York City, I plan to "Breakfast at Tiffany's," just like Audrey Hepburn - Parrandero, Aug 5, 2013

Answer 5

amerizaje = splash down, landing at sea.

Answer 6

Anteanoche - The night before last

Good one! - Gekkosan, Jul 23, 2010

Answer 7

tuerto - one eyed man

me gusta ésta :) - kirstenalexander, Jul 24, 2010

Although Mike Wazowski is really more of a cyclops kind of guy than a tuerto, since he didn't lose one eye, but just happens to be that way. :-) - Gekkosan, Jul 24, 2010

haha me gusta la imagen - MariaAlaniz, Jul 24, 2010

Bill, wouldn't it need to be 'El tuerto', I think otherwise it just means 'one-eyed' like my 'manco'? - galsally, Jul 25, 2010

Answer 8

Landlocked -- cercado de tierra

How about 'interior' as a one word alternative lol - pushing it I know but had to ask just for fun :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 26, 2010

Doesn't work. "Interior" is too much of a generic word to fit as a one-word alternative. The only alternatives are "rodeado de tierra", "cercado de tierra", "sin salida al mar" - Gekkosan, Jul 29, 2010

Answer 9

last night - anoche

tonight - esta noche

Very clever!! - Gekkosan, Jul 24, 2010

For "anoche", "yestereve" [or even, "yestereen"] is possible (although quite old-fashioned). - samdie, Jul 24, 2010

True... Now we get to the nit-picking part of the game... I'm not sure whether Ian should be thrown to the dungeon for an expressiion that's not being used much. Hmm, but the rules are the rules, right? Heck with it - off to the DC, Ian! :-) - Gekkosan, Jul 25, 2010

Seems like it's full of great people anyway. Now everyone wil want to go there! - Gekkosan, Jul 25, 2010

Answer 10

Do you mean something like vitral which means stained glass?

Right, that's it! - Gekkosan, Jul 23, 2010

Gekko, he's getting his money's worth out of that one ... I think it should be disallowed! Oh, sorry Yesero, I didn't know it was you. - LateToDinner, Jul 23, 2010

That's right, I'll milk it for all it is worth. - Yeser007, Jul 23, 2010

You can buy the Mrs. a new Foiler! - LateToDinner, Jul 23, 2010

Answer 11

novillada = bull fight with young bulls

Ahh..! I'm sure that there must be several qualifying words just from the bullfighting world. - Gekkosan, Jul 24, 2010

enjoyed the picture! - Silvia, Jul 24, 2010

Yeah, I'm glad the bullock has the upper, uh.. hoof?, horn?.. in this picture. - Gekkosan, Jul 24, 2010

Answer 12

Estrenar --- to use or to wear something for the first time

¡Ja, ja, ja! There's one word a lady cannot do without! - Gekkosan, Jul 23, 2010

Oh, oh! Did we just see the sexist side of Gekko? Marianne, don't take that from him ... change your word so his comment doesn't make sense. Oh, wait - it already doesn't :) - LateToDinner, Jul 23, 2010

Jejeje...Gekkosan always means well, so I forgive him. - --Mariana--, Jul 24, 2010

:) - LateToDinner, Jul 24, 2010

Just so that I don't get accused of being overly PC... *blink* - Gekkosan, Jul 24, 2010

That is your defense? Let me just say "cojo' - LateToDinner, Jul 24, 2010

No defense. I plead no contest. - Gekkosan, Jul 24, 2010

My dad had an expression Samoshido that he would use an affected accent with. It wasn't until my mother got angry with him for using it in front of us kids that I realized what he was really saying! - LateToDinner, Jul 24, 2010

So what was he saying? - sagiia, Oct 30, 2010

buen ejemplo - bettytf, Aug 4, 2013

Answer 13

toes -- dedos del pie

Excellent! - Gekkosan, Jul 24, 2010

Gracias, gekko! - amykay, Jul 24, 2010

Answer 14

Wheelchair -- la silla de ruedas

Answer 15

lanzatorpedos - torpedo tube