Mamihlapinatapai

Mamihlapinatapai (sometimes mamihlapinatapei ) is a word from the language of Yaghan, which is in the Guinness Book of World Records listed as the " most succinct word". It is also considered one of the most difficult to translate words, but it can be described with the following phrase: " the exchange of a look between two people, each wishing the other would initiate something that both desire but no one is willing to to do ".

The word is related to the volunteer dilemma in the book Rock, Paper, Scissors - Game Theory in everyday life ( in the original English: -: strategies for co -operation Game theory in everyday life Rock, Paper, Scissors ) described by Len Fisher.

The word consists of the reflexive, passive prefix ma - ( mam - before a vowel ), the root ihlapi, which means " not knowing what to do next," the stative suffix -n, the suffix -ata and the Doppelsuffix - apai, which in conjunction with the reflexive prefix has mam - reciprocal meaning.

• Verbal record