Comment by alister

> Some languages even discriminate different types of hole, distinguishing e.g. between superficial hollows, inner cavities, and see-through perforations.

This blew me away when learning Portuguese. You have to use different words depending on the kind of hole: for a hole in the ground or in your tooth, it's buraco, and for hole to pass a shoelace, it's furo. A hole that is closed at one end is different than one that's pass-through. I never thought about the distinction before learning another language. "Hole" is more general a word than exists in Portuguese.

Similarly, the word "bump" in English is far more general than any equivalent word in Portuguese. There is no single word in Portuguese that covers all the cases of "bump":

- For bumpy road, you would use esburacada (eg., estrada esburacada)

- For a bump on a table (a surface), you would say solavanco (eg., solavancos na mesa)

- For a bump under a carpet, the best word is caroço (eg., caroço embaixo do tapete)

Using any of the above Portuguese words for a different kind of "bump" would be confusing and may or may not be understood.