Mamihlapinatapai
Encyclopedia
Mamihlapinatapai is a word from the Yaghan language
of Tierra del Fuego
, listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the "most succinct word", and is considered one of the hardest words to translate. It refers to "a look shared by two people, each wishing that the other will offer something that they both desire but are unwilling to do."
It is described in Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory in Everyday Life, by Len Fisher (p76), when describing the Volunteer's dilemma
.
It is also referenced in Defining the World in a discussion of the difficulties facing Samuel Johnson
in trying to arrive at succinct, yet accurate, definitions of words.
The word consists of the reflexive
/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 dual
suffix -apai, which in composition with the reflexive mam- has a reciprocal sense.
The word was featured prominently in Ridley Scott's 2011 film, "Life in a Day."
Yaghan language
Yagán , 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 Fuego
Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of a main island Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego divided between Chile and Argentina with an area of , and a group of smaller islands including Cape...
, listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the "most succinct word", and is considered one of the hardest words to translate. It refers to "a look shared by two people, each wishing that the other will offer something that they both desire but are unwilling to do."
It is described in Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory in Everyday Life, by Len Fisher (p76), when describing the Volunteer's dilemma
Volunteer's dilemma
The volunteer's dilemma game models a situation in which each of N players faces the decision of either making a small sacrifice from which all will benefit, or freeriding....
.
It is also referenced in Defining the World in a discussion of the difficulties facing Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
in trying to arrive at succinct, yet accurate, definitions of words.
The word consists of the reflexive
Reflexive verb
In 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 dual
Dual (grammatical number)
Dual 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.
The word was featured prominently in Ridley Scott's 2011 film, "Life in a Day."