30 English words that have a different meaning in a foreign language

April 23, 2020
12
Comments (12)
  1. Jon Skelley says:

    Elevators in Denmark have a light that comes on with the phrase “I fart”. It means in transport.

  2. Rawaz says:

    about fact #2, the Kurdish word for sh*t is ‘guu’.

  3. Franky says:

    “13. ‘Trombone’ means paperclip in French.”
    “Trombone” means trombone AND paperclip in french. The paperclip is called a “trombone” because it is shaped like a trombone (musical instrument).

    “22. The English word ‘fart’ means ‘pet’ in French.”
    It’s the opposite, the English word “pet” means “fart” in French.

    1. akka69 says:

      a small anecdote:
      Few years ago, I was a in a New-jersey mall and they had that animal shop called “Pet Pourri” whose name is obviously a pun on “pot-pourri”.

      In French it would translate as “Rotten fart”….and the smell was matching.

  4. Ole Sjælland says:

    “11. The English word ‘gift’ means poison in in German.”
    The word is also poison in Danish. However in Danish it also means getting married: Vi blev gift (We got married).

  5. Ricardo says:

    Although not as hilarious as some examples posted here before, in Portuguese the word Resume means to summarize and the word Vigilante is the proper word for private security guard.
    There are some other examples but these ones tend to confuse people the most.

  6. Paul Bourne says:

    Number 7 isn’t really correct, lul = d*ck, cock, referring to male genitals, penis=penis, same spelling, different pronounciation.

  7. 3S5G545F says:

    You’re wrong. “Dag” Means fish in hebrew, not dog

  8. Jim says:

    Fahrt means a “trip” or a “ride” in German. As you leave many German villages, you’ll see a sign that wishes you a “Gute Fahrt.”

    Also regarding #4, when a friend from Germany came to the U.S. for the first time, he was amazed that so many things in America contained condoms…..(preservatives).

  9. Susannah Grover says:

    Pain in English is ‘Bread’ in French. There seems to be a definite connection for some arthritis sufferers.

  10. Susannah says:

    Pain in English is ‘Bread’ in French.

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