Words that just won't stick

[Linguaphile]

pienso animal feed, fodder

[dEhiN]

pienso animal feed, fodder

I always thought that meant "thought", but according to Wiktionary, that meaning is obsolete?! If so, what's commonly used for "thought"?

[Linguaphile]

pienso animal feed, fodder

I always thought that meant "thought", but according to Wiktionary, that meaning is obsolete?! If so, what's commonly used for "thought"?

You might be thinking of pienso as the first-person present form of the verb pensar, meaning "I think" (and I think that's the reason I have trouble remembering the meaning of pienso as an animal-feed-related noun). As a verb form pienso "I think" is very much not obsolete, but "thought" as a noun is pensamiento.

[vijayjohn]

Malayalam:

വർഗ്ഗീയ [ʋərˈgiːjə] - sectarian
ചൈതന്യം [t͡ʃəjˈd̪ənjəm] - vigor
മുന്നേറ്റം [mʊnˈneːttəm] - advance, progress (noun)
ചങ്കുറപ്പ് [t͡ʃəŋgʊˈrəpɯ] - sturdy determination
ആശയം [ˈaːɕejəm] - mind, meaning, substance, receptacle
വേളി [ˈʋeːɭi] - legally married wife, Brahmin marriage
കൊളുത്തുക [kɔˈɭʊt̪ʊga] - to kindle
അച്ചം [əˈt͡ʃəm] - shyness, dismay, modesty

Sanskrit:

पश्च paśca - hinder part
पश्चात् paścāˊt - (from) behind
ताप tāpá - heat
श्वेत śvētá - white

Not very easy to remember that the word for 'penance' in Malayalam literally means 'heat from behind' in Sanskrit!

Two words each in German and French:

verallgemeinern - to generalize
die Pute - female turkey or turkey meat
un idiotisme - idiom
accabler - to devastate, overwhelm, to condemn

[Linguaphile]

श्वेत śvētá - white

This one reminds me of Russian свет(а) = light, and similar words in related languages (ultimately from the same proto-Indo-European root).

[vijayjohn]

श्वेत śvētá - white

This one reminds me of Russian свет(а) = light, and similar words in related languages (ultimately from the same proto-Indo-European root).

Looking that up made me realize that श्वेत is cognate with the Persian equivalent سفید sefid. That actually might help me remember it! Thanks!

The words that are least likely to stick are probably the ones I'm also least likely to use...

mortuary - place where dead bodies are stored prior to burial or cremation
morgue - mortuary (especially in legal contexts according to Wiktionary although I think the place where I saw this word was in Indian English comics as a kid), arrogance(!), archive and background information division of a newspaper (it never even occurred to me to think that a newspaper would have this)
bodice - basically a women's shirt (from bodies in the sense of the upper parts of dresses)
underbodice - women's undershirt
ഭംഗം [ˈbʱəŋgəm] - break(age), smashing, putting down, piece, obstruction, defeat, failure, fall, wave, dent, canal, channel (I thought this meant 'destruction')
സാരമേയം [saːɾəˈmeːjəm] - dog
ചനയ്ക്കുക [t͡ʃəˈnɛkʲʊga] - to become ripe
ചീർക്കുക [ˈt͡ʃiːrkʊga] - to swell up, become bloated/fat
अंबर ámbara - circumference, clothes
दिश् diś - direction, cardinal/compass point, quarter of the sky (in compounds, becomes दिग्- dig- before a voiced sound and दिक्- dik- before a plain voiceless stop)
marearse - to get dizzy
cimarrón - feral, rural, wild (plant)
der Truthahn - male turkey
die Beanstandung - objection
كور kor - house
靴子 xuēzi - boot
普鲁士 Pǔlǔshì - Prussia
κόκκινος kókkinos - red
λίμνη límni - lake
κτήμα ktíma - property, real estate, farm
αγρόκτημα agróktima - farm
κτάομαι ktáomai - I acquire, get
κτῆμα ktêma - piece of property, possession
ugqirha - doctor
lokhu - this

[Naava]

വർഗ്ഗീയ [ʋərˈgiːjə] - sectarian
വേളി [ˈʋeːɭi] - legally married wife, Brahmin marriage

पश्च paśca - hinder part
पश्चात् paścāˊt - (from) behind

I don't think I'll ever forget these because they remind me of these Finnish words so much:

vartija [ˈʋɑrt̪ijɑ] - guard, security guard
veli [ˈʋe̞li] - brother
paska [ˈpɑs̠kɑ] - shit (pl paskat)

[vijayjohn]

Yes, but the part that's hard to remember is what they actually mean!

Well, maybe that won't be so hard for you with those two Sanskrit words...

[Linguaphile]

marearse - to get dizzy

I don't know if this will help you remember it or not, but marear(se) is related to mar "sea". If you think about feeling dizzy from seasickness (or think of feeling dizzy and nauseous as feeling as though you are moving with the tide or bobbing around in the sea), maybe that will help you remember.

Yes, but the part that's hard to remember is what they actually mean!

Well, maybe that won't be so hard for you with those two Sanskrit words...

And maybe also വേളി / veli, since both are related to family relationships.

[vijayjohn]

marearse - to get dizzy

I don't know if this will help you remember it or not, but marear(se) is related to mar "sea". If you think about feeling dizzy from seasickness (or think of feeling dizzy and nauseous as feeling as though you are moving with the tide or bobbing around in the sea), maybe that will help you remember.

I'm not sure I'll remember this because I don't know what it's like to be seasick. But I'll try to use that as a mnemonic. Thanks!

Yes, but the part that's hard to remember is what they actually mean!

Well, maybe that won't be so hard for you with those two Sanskrit words...

And maybe also വേളി / veli, since both are related to family relationships.

Personally, in Malayalam, I find that the hard thing about kinship terminology is knowing exactly who each term refers to. It's pretty much as if any two speakers of Malayalam can understand each other just fine until they start talking about people in their families, at which point they know mutual intelligibility will break down completely without explaining, "Well, you see, in our family, the person we call this is related to this other person in this way, and this other person is..." I recently found out, for example, that the term I use for my dad's oldest sister is the exact same term another Malayalee uses for her maternal grandmother.

Apparently, this is true to some extent in other South Asian languages, too.

[nijk]

Track vs truck. I always need a few seconds to make sure I remember correctly which one is which.

[Car]

pienso animal feed, fodder

I always thought that meant "thought", but according to Wiktionary, that meaning is obsolete?! If so, what's commonly used for "thought"?

You might be thinking of pienso as the first-person present form of the verb pensar, meaning "I think" (and I think that's the reason I have trouble remembering the meaning of pienso as an animal-feed-related noun). As a verb form pienso "I think" is very much not obsolete, but "thought" as a noun is pensamiento.

It's exactly the reason why I have trouble remembering that meaning. It came up recently in my reviews on LingQ and it's causing me problems.

[Linguaphile]

mortuary - place where dead bodies are stored prior to burial or cremation
morgue - mortuary (especially in legal contexts according to Wiktionary although I think the place where I saw this word was in Indian English comics as a kid)

In my variety of English these are different places. A mortuary is, just like your definition says, a place where the bodies are stored prior to burial or cremation. Not just stored, but also prepared by embalming, etc. In my town the mortuary is right next to the cemetery (I think it's on the same property), and next to the facilities where you can buy coffins and headstones and cemetery plots. It can also be called a funeral home. The people who work there are associated with cemeteries and religious organizations, and the focus of what goes on there is on preparing the body for its final resting place.
A morgue isn't the same as a mortuary. It's the place bodies are stored immediately after death, and also where autopsies take place. Here, it's in the basement of the hospital (completely across town from the cemetery). The people who work there are associated with hospitals and law enforcement, and the focus of what goes on there is on determining the cause of death and other related matters. I suppose this is why wiktionary mentions legal contexts for this term. It's not that only lawyers use the term or something like that, but rather that the morgue is the place associated with legal investigations after a death. If you've watched any crime or mystery tv shows and there are scenes with a medical examiner or autopsy, it's at a morgue that these scenes would take place.
So basically when a person dies they are often taken first to a morgue and then later to a mortuary. If the person dies outside a hospital and there are no legal or medical concerns about the cause of death, I think the person's body can be taken directly to the mortuary without having to go to a morgue.
It's good that these are among the words you're least likely to use.

[vijayjohn]

Thanks!

If you've watched any crime or mystery tv shows

I haven't really.

It's good that these are among the words you're least likely to use.

Well, for now! I'm sure I'll have to use them eventually...

ornithophobia - fear of birds
sola scriptura - Protestant Christian doctrine that the Bible is the supreme authority in all matters of doctrine and practice
ecumenopolis - city spanning an entire planet
Public Health Information Systems (PHIS) - foundational components of public health infrastructure, providing how health departments collect and maintain data for public health practice
limn - to draw, paint, delineate
limnetic - of or pertaining to the deeper, open waters, e.g. of a lake (also can apparently refer to an animal living in such waters?)
ഉദാര [uˈd̪aːɾa] - generous, liberal, noble, kind
നിർവ്വചിക്കുക [n̪irˈʋəd͡ʒikʲuga] - to define, utter
വളയ്ക്കുക [ʋəˈɭɛkʲuga] - to cause to bend, cheat, defraud
പരിധി [pəˈɾid̪ʱi] - limit, boundary, range, circumference, enclosure, horizon, covering, chariot wheel
മാറ്റൊലി [ˈmaːtoli] - echo
കിഴിവ് [kiˈɻiʋɯ] - discount
ember - mankind, human being, person
lippu - flag
[təˈmejŋəˈlevtəpəɣtəɻkən] - I have a fierce headache
angyaghllangyuqtuq(lla) [aŋˈɣjaɣhɬaŋɣjuqtuq]([ɬa]) - (also), he/she wants to acquire a big boat

[dEhiN]

pienso animal feed, fodder

I always thought that meant "thought", but according to Wiktionary, that meaning is obsolete?! If so, what's commonly used for "thought"?

You might be thinking of pienso as the first-person present form of the verb pensar, meaning "I think" (and I think that's the reason I have trouble remembering the meaning of pienso as an animal-feed-related noun). As a verb form pienso "I think" is very much not obsolete, but "thought" as a noun is pensamiento.

You're correct - I was thinking of pienso as the 1st.pres.ind. of pensar, but also conflating with French where pensée taken from penser is another noun for 'thought'.

Speaking of Spanish, a word for me that I've always struggled with and still pretty much do is: ya. I've gotten a little better now with understanding its meaning in context, at least enough to get the gist of a sentence or phrase. But I'm never sure when to use it in language production. The weird thing too is that I don't have as much trouble with the equivalents in French or Spanish, déjà and já respectively. I can still use those two incorrectly but I also have a better sense of when to correctly use them. I don't know what it is about ya that gives me so much trouble.

Another word that I'm having a hard time with is apenas across Spanish and Portuguese. My understanding is that in Spanish, it can mean 'as soon as', 'just', or 'barely', while in Portuguese it can mean 'only', 'just', or 'barely'. If so, then I guess the meanings aren't as different as I thought they were.

Finally, 3 Tamil words I'm having difficulty with are நெடில் /n̪eɖil/, ஆயகம் /aːjəhəm/, and காயம் /kaːjəm/ meaning 'long', 'length' and 'injury' respectively. With நெடில், I first think length instead of long. With ஆயகம், I think the /aːjə/ part reminds me of காயம் and so I want to say injury and then vice versa.

[vijayjohn]

Speaking of Spanish, a word for me that I've always struggled with and still pretty much do is: ya. I've gotten a little better now with understanding its meaning in context, at least enough to get the gist of a sentence or phrase. But I'm never sure when to use it in language production. The weird thing too is that I don't have as much trouble with the equivalents in French or Spanish, déjà and já respectively.

You mean Portuguese!

I can still use those two incorrectly but I also have a better sense of when to correctly use them. I don't know what it is about ya that gives me so much trouble.

Probably just that you learned it later, plus it's used a lot more often than in French (but about as often as in Portuguese, I think). The problems you have with the Spanish word sound similar to the ones I have with the Portuguese one.

Finally, 3 Tamil words I'm having difficulty with are நெடில் /n̪eɖil/, ஆயகம் /aːjəhəm/, and காயம் /kaːjəm/ meaning 'long', 'length' and 'injury' respectively. With நெடில், I first think length instead of long. With ஆயகம், I think the /aːjə/ part reminds me of காயம் and so I want to say injury and then vice versa.

I don't recognize any of those words at all. Our words for all three of those are completely different even though only our word for 'injury' is non-Dravidian. காயம் in Malayalam means 'asafetida'.

[dEhiN]

Finally, 3 Tamil words I'm having difficulty with are நெடில் /n̪eɖil/, ஆயகம் /aːjəhəm/, and காயம் /kaːjəm/ meaning 'long', 'length' and 'injury' respectively. With நெடில், I first think length instead of long. With ஆயகம், I think the /aːjə/ part reminds me of காயம் and so I want to say injury and then vice versa.

I don't recognize any of those words at all. Our words for all three of those are completely different even though only our word for 'injury' is non-Dravidian. காயம் in Malayalam means 'asafetida'.

Wtf does 'asafetida' mean?! I learned நெடில் /n̪eɖil/ originally as the word used when distinguishing between long and short vowels. I forget the opposite now (for 'short') though I do have it written in my Anki cards somewhere.

[vijayjohn]

Wtf does 'asafetida' mean?!

It's a spice with a fairly strong smell. You've never heard of it? We use it pretty often. Is it not common in Sri Lankan cuisine as well? It's called பெருங்காயம் in Tamil. I've seen at least one website claim it's called perungayam even in Sinhala. In Hindi, it's called [hiŋg].

I learned நெடில் /n̪eɖil/ originally as the word used when distinguishing between long and short vowels.

Fabricius claims that it does mean 'length', though, and is synonymous with நீளம், which is the word we also use for 'length'. He also seems to be saying it's used specifically to mean a long vowel, not 'long' in other contexts.

I forget the opposite now (for 'short') though I do have it written in my Anki cards somewhere.

குறில், which similarly means either 'shortness' or 'short vowel', apparently.

[Linguaphile]

I tend to mix these up - both mean "to follow" and "to observe" but in different senses:
jälgima to follow (i.e. in the news, on social media), observe (by watching), monitor, watch
järgima to follow (an example), observe (a practice), comply with, conform to

It helps to associate the first one with jälg (tracks) - you're just "following" by observation, like following the prints left behind by a person or animal; and to associate the second one with järg (continuation, sequel) - you're "following" by continuing what someone else started.
Still I mix them up!

[Dormouse559]

saler v - to salt (sth)
salir v - to soil (sth), get (sth) dirty