The sense, the sound, the meaning, the melody – you’ve got to love these words…
Accordion – a portable musical instrument played from the heart
Addle-pate – muddle headed
A dan dot soley – “until another sun”, farewell, goodbye, see you (Guadeloupean Creole)
Agida/agita – a feeling of anxiety (Italian-American)
Agog – eager, expectant
Aguaje – worthless talk, hot air, blarney (Venezuelan slang)
Ahimsa – do no harm (Sanskrit)
Aident – ardently helpful (c/o King Lear, Shakespeare)
Ai ki do – mutual mind way (Japanese)
Aimsir – the elements that surround us (Gaelic)
Airmouse – bat (Cornish, c/o Robert Macfarlane)
Ajiba – marvellous, amazing (Arabic)
Akoma – heart (Twi)
Álainn – beautiful (Gaelic)
Alma – soul (old Portuguese)
Alpenglow – the warm glow in the sky from the rising or setting sun reflecting off snowfields
Alsoly – additionally
Ambered – caught, frozed, arrested, as in amber
Ambit – scope, extent, playing field
Ambrosial – delicious, fit for the gods
Ammil – the fine film of silver ice that coats leaves, twigs and grass when freeze follows thaw (Devon c/o Robert Macfarlane’s Landmarks)
Animato – lively (tempo; c120bpm)
Aplomb – with grace and skill
Ayo – joy (Yoruba)
Arboreal – of trees, tree-like, tree-dwelling
Arco Baleno – rainbow (Italian)
Arete – the standard of excellence implicit in any act (c/o Plato)
Ataraxia – inner peace, calm
Azahar – orange blossom (Spanish)
Azure – lapis lazuli blue
Babushka – butterfly (Russian)
Balade – a stroll (French)
Ballad – a story set to music
Ballisten’ – sea-worn stone that fits happily in your hand (Shetland c/o Robert Macfarlane’s Landmarks)
Ballyhoo – brouhaha
Ballyrag – play tricks on
Bamboozle – cheat, hoax, mystify
Ban ban ton ton – the sound of a child hitting a drum (Japanese)
Bardo – a transitional point or state, a space between (Tibetan)
Baraka – blessing (Arabic)
Bàta breàgha – bonnie boat (Gaelic)
Bauls – mad, possessed, wandering minstrels (Bengali)
Beatific – blessed, blissful happiness
Beautifulissima – extremely beautiful (c/o Gianandrea Noseda)
Beautility – beauty and utility
Beetle-browed – shaggy
Bedazzle – charm, enchant, trick (loudly)
Beguile – charm, enchant, trick (quietly)
Bellycheer – comfort food (16th century English)
Bendigedig – excellent, fantastic (Welsh)
Benison – a blessing
Berceuse – lullaby, cradlesong
Berms and baffles – sea defences
Bibbly – tipsy (c/o Kitchen Table Lingo)
Big-eye – greedy (Ibo/Twi)
Bilk – cheat, hoodwink
Bimbling along – strolling
Bishy bishy barna-bee – a ladybird (Norfolk dialect)
Blinky – when a great idea suddenly appears in your head, making your eyes widen in wonder – “Wow, I’ve just had a blinky…” (c/o my daughter)
Bluetiful – beautiful blue
Blue vexed – extremely angry (Bajan)
Boketto – to gaze vacantly into the distance without thinking (Japanese)
Book-book – intellectual (Ghanaian)
Boon – blessing
Bon-ton – good tone, civility, savoir-vivre
Bonzen – bigwig (German)
Borboletta – butterfly (Portuguese)
Bosky – bushy
Bouffadou – a long wooden pipe for stoking an open fire (c/o my Swiss sister-in-law)
Bouffage – a satisfying meal (French)
Boum – dance party (Swiss)
Blouzy – rompish
Blowsabella – a woman whose hair is dishevelled
Bludger – a hanger-on or loafer
Blue bird day – beautiful clear blue skies (c/o snowboarding folk)
Boffo – extremely successful, uproarious, hearty
Bricolage – doing it yourself (French)
Brouhaha – ballyhoo
Brusco – off the cuff (Italian)
Buffo – comic (Italian)
Bunter teller – a colourful plate, a generous assortment of biscuits (German)
Bunting time – when the grass is high enough to hide young men and maids
Burl – a knot or lump in wool or cloth
Byt – everyday life (Russian)
Caboodle – the whole lot
Cacophonic – headachingly noisy
Cadence – the rhythmic flow of sounds, words; melodic intonation
Calligraphy – fine handwriting
Camas – bay (Gaelic)
Camino – route, track, way (Spanish)
Capricious – free, lively and impulsive; a mixture of the real and imaginery
Caravanserai – an inn for travellers
Caravel – a small highly manoeuvrable sailing ship
Cariño – affection (Spanish)
Carousel – merry-go-round
Carabosse – wicked fairy (French)
Cark – worry
Caspita – wow (Italian)
Catalpa – head with wings (Greek)
Cavort – jump and dance excitedly
Celestial – of the heavens
Chatoyant – lustrous like a cat’s eye (French)
Chirology – the art of conversing with the hands and fingers
Cholives – chilli-stuffed olives
Circumbobulation – going round and round in confused circles
Classic – good and old (℅ my son)
Clement – mild
Clinkerbell – icycle (Wessex c/o Robert Macfarlane’s Landmarks)
Clonky – chocolate bars that have melted in the sun (c/o my son)
Commuovere – to be moved to tears by a story (Italian)
Compendious – concisely comprehensive
Contagerous – catchy, catching (c/o Massive Attack)
Convivial – friendly, festive, life-affirming
Cordial – heart felt, warm
Corybantic – wild, frenzied, uncontrolled
Cronky – shaky, shoddy, falling apart
Crumping – the sound of fresh snow underfoot (c/o John Clare)
Crunk – crazy and drunk (Atlanta bass hop)
Cui cui – birdsong (Japanese)
Cumsloosh – a flatterer
Cut the ham, man – hurry up (c/o Brooklyn Ben)
Daft – foolish
Daisetsu – great simplicity (Japanese)
Darshan – seeing in the round; seeing connections (Hindi)
Deft – quick and skillful; adroit
Deleterious – harmful
Delulu – utterly mistaken, unrealistic, deluded
Despacio – slowly, gradually, happily (Spanish)
Dextrosity – extreme dexterity
Dhire dhire – slowly slowly (Bengali)
Dinglybells – decibels (c/o my daughter)
Discombobulated – uber confused
Dispiritating – dispiriting and irritating
Doldrums – low spirits
Doolally – heartily loopy
Dream holes – openings left in the walls of buildings to admit light
Dringle – laze enjoyably
Drisk – mist (Dorset c/o PJ Harvey)
Droxy – decayed wood (Cotswolds c/o Robert Macfarlane’s Landmarks)
Dubh – dark (Gaelic)
Dulcify – make gentle, sweeten, soften
Dunkelflaute – a period in winter when the wind does not blow and the sun does not shine (German)
Dunning – pestering
Dur dur – very hard (French)
Dusha – soul (Russian)
Earsore – an ugly sound, uneasy on the ear
Eclat – a brilliant display
En Fin Tid – a happy time (Norwegian)
Epiphany – an internal explosion of insight and emotion and goodwill to the world (c/o Tony Conrad)
Erg – an area of shifting sand dunes in the Sahara
Etincellant – sparkling (French c/o André Breton on Aragon)
Etiolate – make pale by excluding light
Euphonious – beautiful sound; happy ears
Fanfaronade – arrogant talk
Farfalla – butterfly (Italian)
Farlies – strange things, wonders
Fearious – full of fear and anger (c/o Coco)
Febrile – feverish
Fecund – fertile
Femory – a lovely food memory (c/o CHAF)
Fervent – ardent
Fêtards – revellers (French)
Flabbergasted – greatly astonished
Flamfoo – a gaudy dresser
Flim-flam – deceptive nonsense
Fogger – an underhand dealer
Folderol – nonsense
FONK – Fear Of Not Knowing
Forblissed – extremely happy
Forest bathing – taking in the forest atmosphere, for your health and well-being (Japanese: shinrin-yoku)
Fossicking – rummaging around (Australian)
Frankfully – full of honesty (c/o Leonard Cohen)
Freealistic – freeform improvising, happy riffing (c/o my daughter)
Frowzy – unkempt, slovenly, musty
Fuffle – abundance
Fuggly – functional but ugly
Fula fula – very fast (c/o Konono Nº1)
Funnin’ – joshing (c/o Bette Davis)
Fuzzies – the folk with qualitative, as opposed to quantitative, analyses
Frankfully – totally honest
Gallimaufry – a jumble or medley
Galumph – see Lollop
Galvanise – rouse, energise
Gambare – be brave (Japanese)
Gelid – icy
Giddy kipper – an over-tired child going a bit doolally at the end of the day
Gigil – a sudden and uncontrollable urge to squeeze something you find irresistibly cute, such as the cheeks of a child (Philippine Tagalog)
Gimcrackery – cheap, showy, useless trifles
Gleich alles zusammen – at the same time all together (German, c/o Mozart)
Glincy – smooth, slippery
Gloomed – saddened
Glossolalia – gift of tongues
Gobbledegook – unintelligible nonsense
Godwottery – affected use of archaic language
Grace-note – an extra note as an embellishment, not essential to the harmony or melody
Gradely day – a fine/excellent day (Lancashire)
Graveritas – weighty truth
Grazioso – graceful, pretty
Griffley – grumpy
Grimoires – books of magic spells
Gusto – happy energy
Haar – a cold sea-fog on the East coast of the UK
Habibi – beloved, my love (Arabic)
Hakawati – storyteller (Arabic)
Halqa – story circle (Arabic)
Hamartia – the fatal flaw in a character
Hanami – relishing the fleeting sight and scent of blossom (Japanese)
Hangry – angry because hungry (c/o Brooklyn Ben)
Hare-brained – unsuccessfully fast (see Tortoiseful)
Harmolipi – happiness and sadness together; bittersweetness (Greek)
Harrumph – harrumph!
Haver – talk foolishly, babble
Head steam – thoughts (c/o Basil Kirchin States of Mind
Hear reading – playing music by ear (c/o my daughter)
Heaviosity – weighty power
Hearthold – an emotional foothold
Heartlifting – uplifting (c/o my daughter)
High muckamuck – a puffed up overbearing person
Higler – an itinerant haggler
Higgledy-piggledy – in confusion or disorder
Himalayas – snow dwelling (Sanskrit)
Hireth – a longing for home (Cornish). See Saudade.
Hodgepodge – hotchpotch, a jumble
Holm – an islet, especially in a river
Holophrases – one-word sentences
Honey-tongued – Shakespeare (c/o John Weever, 1599)
Honky donks – heavy boots (Suffolk c/o Robert Macfarlane’s Landmarks)
Hoo-ha – commotion, uproar
Hooi – the sound of wind in the trees (New Forest dialect)
Hózhq – beauty, harmony (Navajo)
Húdié – butterfly (Chinese)
Hufflebuffs – well-worn, comfy clothes (old Scots)
Hullabaloo – a happy din, a noisy excitement
Humdinger – an exceptional example
Hurly-burly – hullabaloo
Hüzün – a kind of melancholy (Turkish)
Hwaet – listen/hark/hey – the opening word of Beowulf (Old English)
Hygge – togetherness (Danish)
Hypnopompia – dreamy dawn-state as you drift from sleeping to waking
Ichigo-ichie – the art of savouring the moment (Japanese)
Ikigai – the reason you get up in the morning (Japanese)
Illumed – made clear
Imbroglio – extremely confused, complicated, entangled
Immrama – wonder-voyages (c/o Robert Macfarlane’s the Old Ways)
Incatacipated – when you are trapped beneath a cat asleep on your lap (c/o Kitchen Table Lingo)
Increscent – becoming gradually greater (c/o David Byrne)
Ink-horn terms – pedantic schoolmaster’s words (Elizabethan English)
Insinuendo – insinuating inuendo
Inventorise – create with gusto
Iro – colour + lover (Japanese)
Ishy – quite (℅ my daughter)
Isumataq – a storyteller who creates the atmosphere for wisdom to reveal itself, an enlightening guide (Thule)
Izvor – wellspring (Bulgarian)
Jagga jagga – rubbish rubbish (Naija, Nigerian pidgin c/o Fela Kuti)
Jai a lai – happy game (Basque)
Janky – extremely poor or unreliable quality
Jinky – elusive, quicky-movey
Jocund – cheerful, light-hearted
Joie de faire – enthusiasm for work (French)
Jogo de cintura – a flexible practical approach to life (Portuguese)
Joyeux bordel – happy mess (French)
Jumbie – wayward spirits (Caribbean)
Kaamos – the “blue moment”, before darkness begins to fall in winter (Swedish)
Kaira – peace (Mandé)
Kalos – beautiful: good and noble (Greek)
Kalpa – the passing of time on a cosmic scale (Sanskrit)
Kata – the blessing-scarf of ice crystals streaming off the summit of Everest
Kazoo – hours of fun humming
Kenning – a poetic image made by combining words (Old Norse), eg wound-hoe (sword), thrower of gold (generous ruler)
Kerfuffle – agreable fuss
Kersliver – an accursed slip and slither
Kilig – happy butterflies in your stomach (Tagalog)
Kilkenny cats – people who fight relentlessly to their end
Kintsugi – the art of repairing broken pottery beautifully (Japanese)
Kirtan – telling, narrating, reciting, describing an idea or story; to cut through (Sanskrit)
Kizuna – the bonds of friendship (Japanese)
Kleos – story, fame, honour and glory (c/o Homer)
Kohl – a black powder
Komorebi – the sunlight that filters through the leaves of the trees (Japanese)
Kultur – things done and not done (c/o Moses Mendelssohn)
Kunstkammer – a collection of curiosities and wonders (Russian)
Kwump – the sound of a heavy object falling to the floor (c/o Chris Ware’s Building Stories)
Kyara – character (Japanese)
Lackadaisical – unenthusiastic, feeble
Lagom – not too much and not too little; a happy middle (Swedish)
Lambent – playing on the surface with a soft radiance
Lapidary – concerned with stones; dignified and concise; worthy of inscriptions
Lapis lazuli – ultramarine azure blue
Larrikin – maverick, mischievous character (Australian)
Lashigillavery – plenty of meat and drink
Lenta lenta – slowly slowly (Italian) (see also, Leve leve and Siga siga)
Lepidopteran – delicate, insectual; of butterflies and the like
Leporellos – accordion-folded books
Leve leve – slowly slowly (Portuguese) (see also, Siga siga)
Lila – night (Arabic)
Liminal – an ambiguous, open state
Limn – to depict, describe, outline with light
Limpid – clear, easily comprehended
Ling di long – lackadaisical (Welsh)
Liquid stone – concrete (c/o Paulo Mendes da Rocha)
Lollygag/lallygog – loiter, idle
Lollop – to move along in an ungainly way
Looby – an awkward, clumsy fellow
Loon-hearted – brave (c/o The Song of Hiawatha, Longfellow)
Löyly – the steam that rises from a stove (Finnish)
Ludic – playful, sporting
Lullsome – calming
Lupsup – garbage (Chinese)
Lykkeland – state of happiness (Norwegian)
Lymph – pure water
Lyrical – expressing emotions in a songlike way
Majestical – truly majestic (c/o Hunt for the Wilderpeople)
Makar – poet/bard (Scottish)
Mandalas – hand-heart drawings
Maqam – place, situation, music, mood, emotion (Arabic)
Marifa – intuitive knowledge (Arabic)
Mariposa – butterfly (Spanish)
Mazy – labrynthine, bewildering
Mbari – creation (Igbo)
Mbari mbayo – ‘when we see it, we are happy’ (Igbo)
Mela – festival, social celebration (Sanskrit)
Melliferous – yielding honey
Mellifluous – musical, flowing
Melomane – music lover (French)
Me ola – with all the trimmings (Greek)
Meraki – pouring yourself wholeheartedly into an endeavour (Greek)
Mesmerise – spellbind
Metta – loving kindness (Buddhist)
Mezzo marito – hot water bottle, half a husband (Italian)
Mindjack – to stick in someone’s mind (c/o The Mighty Dead, Why Homer Matters, Adam Nicholson)
Micromeria – small portions (Greek)
Mien – a person’s look or bearing, revealing their character
Milky possets – hot milk and ale, an old English cold remedy
Milquetoast – The Timid Soul
Mirador – vantage point (Spanish)
Mirai – future (Japanese, c/o Toyota’s new fuel-cell car)
Mizzle – misty drizzle (c/o Allbirds)
Moai – meeting for a common purpose (Japanese)
Momo – offspring (Maori)
Momuri – enough already (Japanese)
Moon of Bright Nights – April (c/o The Song of Hiawatha, Longfellow)
Mozzafiato – breathtaking (Italian)
Mouchous – kiss (Basque)
Mukamuka – so angry, you feel like throwing up (Japanese)
Mulligrubs – low spirits, ill-tempered
Multiscient – knowing many things (c/o Philip Pullman’s Daemon Voices)
Mussy – messy
Nighthawks – recurring thoughts that only seem to strike you late at night (c/o John Koenig’s The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows)
Nincompoop – a simpleton, fool
Nuannaarpoq – taking extravagant pleasure in being alive (Eskimo)
Obby oss – hobby horse (Cornish folk)
Ocarina – little goose, ancient wind instrument found all over the world (Italian)
Oddkin – unexpected collaborations and combinations (c/o Donna Haraway)
Ofenkartoffel – baked potato (German)
Old skill – old skool skill
Oom-pah-pah – the heartbeat of folk music
Oomph – energy, enthusiasm
Opulent – luxurious, abundant
Orchestral – combined for maximum effect
Un original – a strong character (French)
Orotond – a full, round, imposing voice
Orto – your own vegetable patch for growing beans, greens, onions and herbs (Italian c/o Pasta Grannies)
Ostinato – a persistent phrase or rhythm
Oto – music (Japanese)
Owama gi – dancing for joy (Gogodala, Papua New Guinea)
Owl-light – twilight (North Lancashire c/o Robert Macfarlane’s Landmarks)
Panoply – a full and splendid array
Pantechnicon – a large van for transporting furniture
Paladin – a champion
Palombella – wood pigeon (Italian)
Paludal – swampy, marshy
Pantaloon – a foolish old man, baggy trousers
Papillon – butterfly (French)
Paraphernalia – assorted bits and bobs
Parisology – the use of equivocal or ambiguous language
Patati-patata – nonsense, noise, bluff and bluster (French)
Pelf – rubbish
Pellucid – transparent, clear
Pettifoger – a rascally practitioner
Peregrinations – travels, flights of discovery
Perlerorneq – the weight of life (Eskimo)
Phatic – communication designed to create a good social atmosphere rather than convey a specific message: “Hi, how are yous?” and the like
Piano piano – slowly slowly (Italian)
Picaresque – dealing with the episodic adventures of rogues
Picayune – of little value, petty
Pingelig – fussy, picky (German)
Pilipala – butterfly (Welsh)
Pipaluk – little one (Greenlandic)
Plimpplamppletteren – skimming stones across water (Dutch)
Plisky – a mischievous escapade
Plus flou – hazier (French c/o Debussy)
Plumptious – deliciously plump
Poltroon – a spiritless coward
Pompasetting – showing off (Bajan)
Pompierisme – pompous pedantry
Pono – essence, beginning (Hawaiian c/o Neil Young)
Prolix – lengthy, tedious speech
Pulelehua – butterfly (Hawaiian)
Purfle – beautify
Quiddity – the essential quirk of a person or thing
Quiddling – busying oneself with unimportant tasks
Quixotic – in love with the lofty but unattainable
Quviannikumut – to feel deeply happy (Eskimo)
Rainsong – the sound of rain landing
Rambunctious – uncontrollably exuberant, boisterous; a rambunctious tyke
Rampallions – rapscallions
Ramshackle – tumbledown, rickety
Rapscallions – rascals, scamps, rogues
Ratatatat – ratatatat!
Razzamatazz – razzle dazzle pzazz
Reiwa – good harmony (Japanese)
Resfeber – the restless beat of a traveller’s heart before a journey begins, a mixture of anxiety and anticipation (Swedish)
Revivivive – bring back to life, stronger (riff on revive and revivify)
Ricik ricik – the sound of light rain (Indonesian)
Rigmarole – lengthy, complicated rambling process
Ristodisco – dinner and dance joint (Italian)
Roman-fleuve – river novel, a leisurely depiction of lives
Roundelay – a short simple song with a refrain
Rubato – performed with a flexible tempo
Ruckzuck – right now (German – c/o Kraftwerk)
Rumbud – ruddy grog blossom
Ruthful – full of empathy and compassion
Salacious – lustful
Salubrious – healthy, pleasant
Samar – staying up with friends till the early hours (Arabic)
Samara – tranquil (origin of Somme) (Celtic)
Samsara – wandering, flowing (Sanskrit)
Sangha – community of the enlightened (Sanskrit)
Sanuk – the importance of enjoying life (Thai)
Saravah – good wishes (Brazil)
Sarha – to wander freely (Arabic)
Satyagraha – truth force (Sanskrit)
Saudade – a longing for home (Portuguese). See Hireth.
Sbagliato – bungled (Italian). As in Negroni Sbagliato.
Scrample – to tear up paper into little pieces (c/o my daughter)
Scroodley – scribbly doodle c/o my son)
Serafi – lovely (origin of giraffe) (Arabic)
Scooch – move on from, swipe away
Selah – as good a light as you could hope for (Hebrew)
Semanteme – a fundamental element expressing an idea or image
Sensei – teacher (Japanese)
Sensical – making sense
Serendipity – happy accidents, accidental happiness
Serene – calm, peaceful, untroubled
Serrez – push on (French c/o Debussy)
Sesquipedalian – long-winded, polysyllabic
Sfumato – allowing colours to blend gradually into each other to create softened outlines or hazy forms (Italian)
Shang-ri-la – heart-sun-moon, harmony
Sharooshed – surprised, disappointed
Sheh-gah – beautiful (Sumerian)
Shenanigans – enjoyable mischief
Sho and ‘im – she (the sea) and him (the land) (Shetland c/o Robert Macfarlane’s Landmarks)
Shoogmadoodle – nonsense (c/o Kojo Laing)
Sigá sigá – slowly slowly (Greek) (see also, Lenta lenta and Leve leve)
Sillabub – happy belly
Silverise – cover in silver
Simmer dim – summer twilight (Orcadian)
Simpatico – likeable, in tune with (Italian)
Simsimiyya – Nile Delta lyre
Skewiff – askew
Sky – to lie on your back and study the clouds (c/o John Constable by way of Robert Macfarlane’s Landmarks)
Slomp – to walk heavily, noisily (Essex c/o Robert Macfarlane’s Landmarks)
Sloom – to sleep heavily and soundly
Smaoineamh álainn – beautiful thought (Gaelic)
Smokefall – a mist descending at dusk (c/o TS Eliot)
Snake out – to undermine, be disloyal, snitch (c/o my son and his peers)
Snowbird – someone who moves to a warmer climate for the winter
Snow-bones – patches of snow stretching along ridges, in ruts or in furrows after a partial thaw (Yorkshire c/o Robert Macfarlane’s Landmarks)
Sommerfugl – butterfly (Danish)
Somo somo – double trouble (Lingala)
Sonorous – deep, resonant
Sonsy – plump, of cheerful disposition, bringing good fortune
Sossegado – quiet (Portuguese). See Susegad.
Sousaphone – wrap-around tuba, hélicon
Sprezzatura – graceful conduct without apparent effort (Italian)
Squigglature – a squiggled signature (ref signing for an Amazon delivery)
Squigglish/Squingglish – squiggly handwritten English (c/o my daughter)
Steezy – effortlessly stylish
Storied – celebrated, famous
Stramash – the boiling effect where ocean currents meet and mix (c/o Robert Macfarlane’s The Old Ways)
Strollography – the art of strolling and recording what you discover
Stupiosity – necessary unseriousness (c/o Billie Eilish)
Stushie – an uproar, commotion or brawl (Scots)
Summer colt – when the air on a hot calm day appears to shimmer close to the ground
Sun-kissed – gently warmed by the sun
Sun-scald – patch of bright sunlight on the surface of water (Sussex c/o Robert Macfarlane’s Landmarks)
Sunsum – soul, spirit (Ghanaian)
Super-gau – a disaster beyond all expectations (German)
Susegad – relaxed way of life (Goan). See Sossegado.
Sylva – a collection of poems, a wood
Sylvan – of the woods, of poetry
Symphony – sounding together
Tarab – musical enchantment (Arabic)
Tarantella – a dance similar to the frenzy produced by the bite of a spider or of falling in love
Tatterdemalion – raggedy, tattered, scruffy ragamuffin
Tenderfoot – a newcomer, novice
Thunderplump – a sudden downpour of rain that comes out of nowhere
Thyme – one hundred miles fragrant (Chinese)
Tiam – the twinkle in your eye when you first meet someone (Farsi)
Tianma – heavenly horses (Chinese)
Timbre – the distinctive character of a musical sound or voice apart from its pitch and intensity
Ting-yin – a touch that uses only the bloodstream to alter the timbre of a note played on the seven-silk-stringed Chinese zither, the ch’in. The slightest of intense touches.
Tintinnabulation – a ringing of bells
Tiramisù – lift me up (Italian)
Toccasana – a cure-all (Neapolitan)
Tölva – computer/number prophetess (Icelandic)
Tomato – edible wolf’s peach (Lycopersicon esculentum) AKA love apple – pomme d’amour
Tombola – fun fair raffle; way station for unwanted bottles of pop and wine
Tomo – companion, friend (Japanese)
Torrid – hot, passionate
Tortoiseful – successfully slow (see Hare-brained)
Tüchtig – good, hearty (German)
Tulle – a soft fine silk
Tracasserie – petty quarrel
Trumblin’ – a tummy rumbling from terrible hunger (c/o my daughter)
Trumpery – worthless finery
Ubuntu – humanity to others (Bantu)
Umami – deliciousness (Japanese)
Uta – song/poem (Japanese)
Vafri – web browser (Icelandic, from the verb to wander)
Vaguen – take out detail in order to distil and deepen characterisation (c/o Samuel Beckett)
Verve – vim, vigour, va va voom
Villanelle – rural, rustic
Vorglühen – pre-glowing: meeting at home for a few drinks before going out (German)
Wabi-sabi – beauty in imperfection (Japanese)
Whiffle-minded – vacillating
Whirligig – spinning, whirling, merry-go-round
Wigwag – move lightly to and fro
Wiki – quick (Hawaiian)
Wow-tin – fisherman’s lunch tin (North Sea coast c/o Robert Macfarlane’s Landmarks)
Wunderkammer – a wonder chamber
Xebec – a small three-masted Mediterranean sailing ship
Xin – heart, mind, core (Chinese)
Y ahí vas – and there you go (Spanish)
Yammer – complain loudly
Yew-yaw – to walk crookedly (Suffolk c/o Robert Macfarlane’s Landmarks)
Yoik – melodic calling to communicate with ancestors (Sami)
Yoka boka – for us all (wolof)
Yuimaru – looking out for one another (Okinawan)
Zaftig – plump, buxom (Yiddish)
Zaperoco – a commotion, riot or tumult (Venezuelan slang)
Zarbi – bizarre (Verlan)
Zephyr – a gentle breeze
Zugunruhe – itchy feet (German)