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The word "Adorkable" is a portmanteau of "Adorable" and "Dork." That neatly encapsulates this trope. Adorkable characters are "dorky" in some fashion. Maybe they're socially inept or shy. Maybe they're really clumsy. Maybe they have some really, really conspicuous character tic that tends to earn them weird looks. Maybe they're just so darn sweet, that it borders on embarrassing. Heck, maybe they're just an out-and-out Nerd. However, rather than making them an outcast, these quirks give the character an endearing vulnerability.

I do not know how to bring the translation as close as possible to the meaning of the word.

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  • Are you looking for a single word keeping the word play, or just any single word, or maybe a phrase?
    – Quassnoi
    Dec 14, 2022 at 17:42

5 Answers 5

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I don't think there is a word like "Adorkable" in Russian, but you can say something like "неуклюже милый" or just "неуклюжий и милый".

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Maybe the word "чудаковатый" is what you are looking for.

This describes the "dorky" person in a sweet manner. Such a person is a bit strange, but not an outcast.

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If you need a single word, try combining your preferred translation of the word "dork" with a diminutive suffix. This will express (to some extent) your loving attitude to the subject. Like:

дурашечка -- adorably foolish

стесняшка -- adorably shy

неуклюжечка -- adorably clumsy

etc...

0

Прелесть какая дурочка might be what you're looking for.

This comes from an old joke: женщины бывают прелесть какие дурочки и ужас какие дуры, the former category being close enough to how you define the word "adorkable".

This joke is old enough to have made it into the mainstream language and not require further explanation. Although you might put it as она из тех, про кого говорят "прелесть какая дурочка", to clarify that you are referring to the joke.

One, probably, might be able to construct a portmanteau in Russian as well, but in general, Russian is not as big on portmanteaus as English, so the humor of English portmanteaus is usually conveyed through other means.

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    "дурочка" implies lower than average intelligence, whereas dork/nerd is not. Dec 15, 2022 at 3:20
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While there is no exact translation of "adorkable", in some situations "угловатый" may work.

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