Razbliuto

Hello and welcome to Word of the Week! I’m your host, Liz. This podcast is dedicated to words and phrases that are untranslatable into English. Let’s discover the nuance of the world’s languages, shall we? 

This week’s word is razbliuto, a Russian word that means ‘the feeling a person has for someone they once loved but no longer does’. How Russian, no? Entire mythologies and bodies of literature have been the result of generational attempts to answer the questions: Where does love come from? Where does it go when it leaves? Why does it feel so bittersweet? 

This word is also a bit gendered. It usually means that a man is recalling a past love. But in the modern world, it can absolutely apply to anyone. And this is a whimsical word, not a vengeful one. Whenever you might be at the point of calling your relationship off, you can forego the tired phrase of “it’s not you, it’s me”. Instead, you can look highly sympathetic and offer up that you’re “sorry, but all I feel about you now is razbliuto.”

I love words about love, especially since love is so maddening and inexplicable. It’s an emotion that makes life worth living, but it also feels out of our mortal control. A stronger and more broad vocabulary around it could be a great way to start to wrap our heads around something our head has no clue about, right? 

Here’s to this week… May you all endeavor to adopt this Word of the Week and see the world a little bit differently. I’ll be back next week with a new word. Thank you for listening!