Life

How To Say "Quickie" In 37 Different Languages

by Emma McGowan

June 9, 2015

The first time I heard the word for “quickie” in Argentina, I couldn’t help but giggle. “Rapidito” literally translates to “little fast,” and it’s just adorable. It’s one of the handful of words I’ve come across in my three and half years living in Latin America that are just better in Spanish than in English. That’s often the case across the world, I think. Some languages are just better at expressing certain ideas than others. So I started wondering about other ways to say sex, especially how to say "quickies".

It’s an important word to have in your arsenal if you’re a single lady traveling — and one you probably won’t learn in language classes at school. Anyone who has ever taken a gap year or just gone traveling on her own knows that opportunities for hooking up when you’re abroad are ample. There’s just something about being far away from home that encourages letting loose with the locals, if you know what I mean.

With the help of some friends and Google Translate, I’ve compiled the words for “quickie” from around the world. Now, I know that Google Translate is not the most reliable source in the world but look at it this way: You’d be doing the same damn thing without me. Also, for what it’s worth, a lot of countries just say “quickie” with their local accent (which wasn’t surprising considering how many words in English just get adopted into other languages in the internet age) so when in doubt, you can probably just go with that. If you wanna come off a little smoother, check out the list below.

1. Albanian: gjë e bërë shpejt-e-shpejt

2. Armenian: անբովանդակ ֆիլմ

3. Bengali: অতিদ্রুতসম্পাদিত কাজ

4. Bosnian: na brzaka

5. Bulgarian: нещо кратко

6. Catalan: Kiki

7. Chinese: 匆匆 (cōngcōng)

8. Croatian: nešto što se brzo radi

9. Chech: rychlovka

10. Estonian: lühiküsimus

11. Filipino: trabahong ginawang mabilis at walang sanay

12. German: eine schnelle Nummer

13. French: coup rapide

14. Greek: προχειροδουλειά (procheirodouleiá)

15. Hindi: लापरवाही से किया गया काम (Lāparavāhī sē kiyā gayā kāma)

16. Hungarian: összetákolt

17. Indonesian: kilat

18. Italian: sveltina

19. Kannada: ಅತ್ಯಲ್ಪ ಕಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾಡಬಹುದಾದದ್ದು (Atyalpa kāladalli māḍabahudādaddu)

20. Japanese: 急ごしらえの (Kyūgoshirae no)

21. Korean: 급히 만든 (geubhi mandeun)

22. Latvian: tukša filma

23. Marathi: घिसाडघाईने केलेली (Ghisāḍaghā'īnē kēlēlī)

24. Polish: szybki numerek

25. Portuguese: rapidinha

26. Romanian: rasol

27. Russian: халтура

28. Serbian: нешто што се брзо ради (nešto što se brzo radi)