- The Turkish word “yakamoz” won the competition for the most beautiful word in the world.
- It means “the reflection of the moon in the water” and captivates with its simplicity and poetic meaning.
- Find out why “yakamoz” won the jury’s hearts and what Polish words were included in the ranking!
Is this the most beautiful word in the world? What does it mean?
In the moonlight, a shimmering ray appears over the calm water – so subtle that it is barely noticeable. This phenomenon is referred to by the Turkish word yakamoz – “reflection of the moon in water”. It was the winner of the German competition organized by Kulturaustausch magazine.
The competition Das schönste ABC der Welt (“The most beautiful alphabet in the world”), organized by Kulturaustausch in cooperation with the Institute for International Relations (IfA), aimed to celebrate the year of the humanities and draw attention to the richness of the world’s languages. The organizers received almost 2.5 thousand proposals from 58 countries. The jury assessed each entry in terms of its cultural significance and the value of the justification attached to it.
In the justification for the choice of yakamoz, it was emphasized that the Turkish language can condense in one word a phenomenon that in many other languages requires a description in a few words. In second place was the Chinese hu lu (“to snore”), and in third place was the Luganda language volongoto (“mess”). It is worth adding that among the entries there was also a Polish proposal “cup”, representing the Polish language, submitted by an Austrian living in Poland.
Why did yakamoz become the most beautiful word?
– can recall images, emotions and sounds. But yakamoz seems to have something more: elegant simplicity and richness at the same time. When reading them, we imagine a silver streak of moonlight, the gentle vibration of water, the silence of the night – and at the same time we feel the mystery that something inexpressible is contained here in one short word.
Additionally, this word also functions in Turkish in a poetic context: it describes not only the reflection of the moon, but also what the water “says” to the light – the moment when light and shadow meet, the subtlety of the movement of the waves. In some interpretations, yakamoz is also associated with the bioluminescence of plankton in water at night – an effect in which the water itself begins to glow when touched by moonlight or an artificial source.
