word of the day — august 2026

← July 2026 the whole archive September 2026 →

31 days of August 2026, newest first — the same card the sidebar hands you each morning.

Nothing yet — August 2026 hasn't started. Come back on the first.

Scripting is switched off, which is extremely 1999 of you and completely fine — every link on this page is a real link and the month below is all here. All the scripting does is mark your today and, if this page was published a while ago, work out the days since.

Monday, August 31, 2026

בלגן

balagan

/bah-lah-GAHN/

Hebrew

a cheerful, chaotic mess

“chaos, but the affectionate kind”

Sunday, August 30, 2026

μεράκι

meraki

/meh-RAH-kee/

Greek

doing something with all your soul, love, and creativity

“pouring a little of your heart into the thing you make”

Saturday, August 29, 2026

poronkusema

/POH-ron-koo-seh-mah/

Finnish

the distance a reindeer walks before needing a rest

“an old unit of distance, measured in reindeer”

Friday, August 28, 2026

Kummerspeck

/KOOM-er-shpek/

German

"grief bacon" — weight gained from emotional eating

“even sorrow-snacking gets a gently funny name”

Thursday, August 27, 2026

gabay

/GAH-buy/

Somali

a long, formal Somali poem, composed and carried in memory

“a nation of poets, and this is the grand form”

Wednesday, August 26, 2026

borrel

/BOR-rel/

Dutch

a casual gathering for drinks and good company

“the easy after-work huddle that Dutch made a noun”

Tuesday, August 25, 2026

sisu

/SEE-soo/

Finnish

quiet, stubborn courage in the face of hardship

“grit with its sleeves rolled up”

Monday, August 24, 2026

上げ劣り

age-otori

/AH-geh-oh-TOH-ree/

Japanese

looking worse after a fresh haircut

“we have all left the salon and quietly mourned”

Sunday, August 23, 2026

àṣẹ

ase

/AH-sheh/

Yoruba

the power to make things happen; also "so be it"

“a word that ends a prayer by giving it legs”

Saturday, August 22, 2026

mysa

/MEE-sah/

Swedish

to snuggle down and be soft and cozy

“the verb for burrowing happily into a blanket”

Friday, August 21, 2026

dépaysement

depaysement

/day-pay-eez-MON/

French

the pleasant disorientation of being abroad

“the giddy strangeness of not being home”

Thursday, August 20, 2026

幽玄

yugen

/YOO-gehn/

Japanese

a deep, mysterious sense of the beauty of the universe

“the quiet awe of a mountain vanishing into mist”

Wednesday, August 19, 2026

gezellig

/heh-ZELL-ikh/

Dutch

cozy, convivial, and warmly sociable

“a word for good company that Dutch can't live without”

Tuesday, August 18, 2026

mokita

/moh-KEE-tah/

Kilivila

a truth everyone knows but agrees not to speak aloud

“the quiet kindness of leaving some things unsaid”

Monday, August 17, 2026

pacha

/PAH-chah/

Quechua

the earth, the world — and time itself, all in one word

“where you are and when you are, spoken in a single breath”

Sunday, August 16, 2026

göz aydın

goz aydin

/gerz eye-DUHN/

Azerbaijani

"bright eye" — congratulations offered when a loved one comes home

“good news arrives, and the eyes get the credit”

Saturday, August 15, 2026

sobremesa

/soh-breh-MEH-sah/

Spanish

the lingering talk at the table after a meal

“the meal is over but nobody wants to leave — the best part”

Friday, August 14, 2026

gigil

/GHEE-gil/

Tagalog

the overwhelming urge to squeeze something unbearably cute

“that clench in your hands when the puppy is Too Much”

Thursday, August 13, 2026

tlazohcāmati

tlazohcamati

/tlah-soh-kah-MAH-tee/

Nahuatl

thank you — literally "I am grateful"

“gratitude that can only be said in the first person”

Wednesday, August 12, 2026

סתם

stam

/STAHM/

Hebrew

"just because" — for no particular reason; never mind

“the most useful word for anything you did purely on a whim”

Tuesday, August 11, 2026

φιλότιμο

philotimo

/fee-LOH-tee-moh/

Greek

"love of honor" — doing right by others as a way of life

“a one-word moral compass, pointing at kindness”

Monday, August 10, 2026

luftmensch

/LOOFT-mensh/

Yiddish

an impractical dreamer — an "air person"

“head firmly, happily, in the clouds”

Sunday, August 9, 2026

勿体無い

mottainai

/moht-tie-NIGH/

Japanese

a pang of regret at letting something go to waste

“"it's still good, don't throw it out!" — honored as a virtue”

Saturday, August 8, 2026

hunhu

/HOON-hoo/

Shona

personhood realized through other people; the Shona kin of ubuntu

“you become yourself in company”

Friday, August 7, 2026

pohoda

/POH-hoh-dah/

Czech

a state of easy, unhurried contentment

“everything is fine, the day is soft, no rush at all”

Thursday, August 6, 2026

طرب

tarab

/TAH-rab/

Arabic

the ecstasy or enchantment brought on by music

“when a song lifts you clear off the ground”

Wednesday, August 5, 2026

Verschlimmbessern

/fair-SHLIM-bes-ern/

German

to make something worse by trying to improve it

“we have all lovingly ruined something this way”

Tuesday, August 4, 2026

سکون

sukoon

/soo-KOON/

Urdu

stillness; a deep, settled peace of mind

“the quiet that arrives once the day finally stops asking”

Monday, August 3, 2026

kaamos

/KAH-mohs/

Finnish

the long polar night of the far northern winter

“a whole season of cozy, candle-lit darkness”

Sunday, August 2, 2026

lítost

litost

/LEE-tohst/

Czech

anguished sympathy mixed with the wish to make things right

“Kundera called it untranslatable; it is very human”

Saturday, August 1, 2026

Geborgenheit

/ge-BOR-gen-hite/

German

a deep feeling of safety, warmth, and being cared for

“the tucked-in, nothing-can-reach-you feeling of home”

…and that is the beginning. Before Saturday, July 11, 2026 the barrel was a different barrel, so those days are somebody's memory rather than this page's to print.

OSSmile

📅 August 2026

🗂️ Every month

2026 · 77 days

👏 you found the applause-o-meter! 👏

OSSmile OSSmi1eβ

📅 August 2026

🗂️ Every month

2026 · 77 days

👏 you found the applause-o-meter! 👏

OSSmile