Words We Need in English: Pelinti

Jeevan Sivasubramaniam Posted by Jeevan Sivasubramaniam, Managing Director, Editorial, Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.



 

Pelinti: This word comes from the Buli language (spoken in Ghana). You know that thing you do where you unwittingly bite into something piping hot, and as it burns your mouth, you start pushing it around in hopes of getting it to cool down? That's what pelinti describes. More specifically, it means “to move hot food around in your mouth.”