Mamihlapinatapai referes to “a look shared by two people, each wishing that the other will offer something that they both desire but are unwilling to do.”
- The word consists of
- the reflexive/passive prefix ma- (mam- before a vowel)
- the root ihlapi (pronounced [iɬapi]), which means to be at a loss as what to do next
- the stative suffix -n
- an achievement suffix -ata
- and the dual suffix -apai, which in composition with the reflexive mam- has a reciprocal sense
Credit: Wikipedia
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