Standard Lemma guide

untranslatable

adj · noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈʌnˌtɹænz.leɪt.ə.bəl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Not able to be translated.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • They referred to de Gaulle as a chienlit, a totally untranslatable term that suggests defecation in bed.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A word or phrase that is impossible to translate satisfactorily from one language to another.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective

Meaning 3

not capable of being put into another form or style or language

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • an untranslatable idiom
  • untranslatable art

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: translatable

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- English translatable English untranslatable From un- + translatable.

Across languages

Translations

34 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: i papërkthyeshëm — not able to be translated
  • Armenian: անթարգմանելի (antʻargmaneli) — not able to be translated
  • Belarusian: непераклада́льны (njepjerakladálʹny) — not able to be translated
  • Catalan: intraduïble — not able to be translated
  • Chinese Mandarin: 不可譯 /不可译 (bùkěyì) — not able to be translated
  • Czech: nepřeložitelný — not able to be translated
  • Dutch: onvertaalbaar — not able to be translated
  • Esperanto: netradukebla — not able to be translated
  • Finnish: kääntämiskelvoton — not able to be translated
  • Finnish: kääntymätön — not able to be translated
  • French: intraduisible — not able to be translated
  • Galician: intraducible — not able to be translated
  • Galician: intraducíbel — not able to be translated
  • German: unübersetzbar — not able to be translated
  • Greek: αμετάφραστος (ametáfrastos) — not able to be translated
  • Hungarian: lefordíthatatlan — not able to be translated
  • Icelandic: óþýðanlegur — not able to be translated
  • Italian: intraducibile — not able to be translated
  • Japanese: 翻訳不可能 (hon'yaku fukāno) — not able to be translated
  • Lithuanian: neišverčiamas — not able to be translated
  • Macedonian: непреводлив (neprevodliv) — not able to be translated
  • Polish: nieprzetłumaczalny — not able to be translated
  • Portuguese: intraduzível — not able to be translated
  • Romanian: netraductibil — not able to be translated
  • Russian: непереводи́мый (neperevodímyj) — not able to be translated
  • Serbo-Croatian: непрево̀див — not able to be translated
  • Serbo-Croatian: непрево̀дљив — not able to be translated
  • Serbo-Croatian: neprevòdiv — not able to be translated
  • Serbo-Croatian: neprevòdljiv — not able to be translated
  • Slovak: nepreložiteľný — not able to be translated
  • Spanish: intraducible — not able to be translated
  • Swedish: oöversättlig — not able to be translated
  • Ukrainian: неперекладни́й (neperekladnýj) — not able to be translated
  • Volapük: netradutovik — not able to be translated