Mamihlapinatapai (sometimes spelled
mamihlapinatapei) is a word from the
Yaghan languageYagán , also known as Yámana and Háusi Kúta, is one of the indigenous languages of Tierra del Fuego, spoken by the Yagán people...
of
Tierra del FuegoTierra del Fuego or TF is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The southern point of the archipelago forms Cape Horn.- History :...
, listed in
The Guinness Book of World Records as the "most succinct word", and is considered one of the hardest words to translate. It describes "a look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but which neither one wants to start."
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Mamihlapinatapai (sometimes spelled
mamihlapinatapei) is a word from the
Yaghan languageYagán , also known as Yámana and Háusi Kúta, is one of the indigenous languages of Tierra del Fuego, spoken by the Yagán people...
of
Tierra del FuegoTierra del Fuego or TF is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The southern point of the archipelago forms Cape Horn.- History :...
, listed in
The Guinness Book of World Records as the "most succinct word", and is considered one of the hardest words to translate. It describes "a look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but which neither one wants to start."
It is also mentioned in
Defining the Word in a discussion of the difficulties facing
Samuel JohnsonSamuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, novelist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. Johnson was a devout Anglican and political conservative, and has been...
in trying to arrive at succinct, yet accurate, definitions of words.
The word consists of the
reflexiveIn grammar, a reflexive verb is a verb whose semantic agent and patient are the same. For example, the English verb to perjure is reflexive, since one can only perjure oneself...
/passive prefix
ma- (mam- before a vowel), the root
ihlapi , which means to be at a loss as what to do next, the stative suffix
-n, an achievement suffix
-ata, and the
dualDual is a grammatical number that some languages use in addition to singular and plural. When a noun or pronoun appears in dual form, it is interpreted as referring to precisely two of the entities identified by the noun or pronoun...
suffix
-apai, which in composition with the reflexive
mam- has a reciprocal sense.
It is also the title of a song by the
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer-
songwriterA songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics, as well as the musical composition or melody to songs. One who writes only lyrics is a lyricist, while one who writes only music is a composer.-History and background of songwriters:...
Ronny CoxDaniel Ronald "Ronny" Cox is an American character actor, singer/songwriter, and guitarist.-Personal life:Cox, the third of five children, was born in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, the son of Lounette and Bob P. Cox, a carpenter who also worked at a dairy. He grew up in Portales, New Mexico...
.