dépaysement
Language: French · [depɛizmɑ̃] · Pronunciation: day-pay-eez-MON
More French words · More words for a feeling
Pronunciation: Speaker: LoquaxFR
Recorder: LoquaxFR · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Meaning
the pleasantly strange feeling of being far from everything familiar
The story
The French mean it kindly: being lifted out of your own country and set down where the rules are different is the whole point of going — travel firms promise dépaysement the way ours promise sunshine. English only offers disorientation, which sounds like something a doctor should see to.
The four rounds
- Which language is it from?
- French
- What does it literally say?
- Un-country-ing
- Which feeling does it carry?
- Strange, and wide awake to it
- What does it mean?
- The odd feeling of not being at home
How it went
The most common guesses for the translation were 'homesickness' and 'homesick'. Close, but not it.
More French words
- retrouvailles practice word
the joy of finding each other again after long apart — a reunion - l'esprit de l'escalier practice word
thinking of the perfect reply only once it is too late - goûter blind word
the afternoon snack, above all the children's one at four - rentrée practice word
the great return to school, work and politics after the summer
More words for a feeling
- toska 2026-09-26
a vague, aching restlessness of the soul, longing for it knows not what - firgun 2026-09-27
open-hearted, ungrudging delight in another person's success - gigil 2026-09-21
the overwhelming urge to squeeze or pinch something unbearably cute - scunnered blind word
thoroughly fed up, sick of it - ikigai practice word
what makes a life worth living — a reason to get up - voorpret 2026-09-07
the pleasure you take in something before it happens — anticipation
2026-09-30 · ‹ Previous word · All words