Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Not capable of being translated; also, not fit to be translated.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Not able to be
translated .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective not capable of being put into another form or style or language
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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The Kalakistan Fragment, supposedly untranslatable, is thought to detail the life of Gung the Magnificent who nearly conquered the world in 1932 B.C. using “supernatural powers derived from a fabulous melon-size jewel.”
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The Kalakistan Fragment, supposedly untranslatable, is thought to detail the life of Gung the Magnificent who nearly conquered the world in 1932 B.C. using “supernatural powers derived from a fabulous melon-size jewel.”
John Joseph Adams » Camera Obscura: Screw-On not screwed-up 2006
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“Kayf” is a word untranslatable in our mother-tongue!
Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah 2003
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Besides, many authors consider a word untranslatable when there isn't an exact one-word equivalent.
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Besides, many authors consider a word untranslatable when there isn't an exact one-word equivalent.
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Besides, many authors consider a word untranslatable when there isn't an exact one-word equivalent.
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Because he can find no noisy, clattering, dish-smashing restaurant, full of acrobatic waiters racing and balancing under immense piles of plates, and shouting jargon untranslatable, unintelligible and unpronounceable down into the lower kitchen, he cannot, cannot eat.
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 11, No. 27, June, 1873 Various
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But after an evening flipping through them, I've begun to think of them as "so-called untranslatable words," because one way or another, they can all be translated.
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But after an evening flipping through them, I've begun to think of them as "so-called untranslatable words," because one way or another, they can all be translated.
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However, Lanugage Log and Languagehat, guys with a lot more linguistic expertise than I have, advise to take the information in books of "untranslatable" words with a grain of salt.
Archive 2005-09-01 2005
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