Languages divide what the world is and feels in different ways that often seem disjointed. A language can approach some sensations, such as seeing color, more broadly than English does. For example, in some languages, there is one word that refers to both red and yellow, which covers the two, plus the piece of orange in between. In Suriname’s Saramaccan Creole language that I have studied, the word for egg yolk translates as the “red” of the egg. Today Saramaccan also has specific words for orange and yellow, but the expression “red” of the egg is a legacy when the language emerged in the 17th century.
Or a language can describe some sensations better than English. Some languages have more words for smells than English speakers would probably imagine. In English, if we don’t like a smell, we can say that something ‘stinks’, ‘smells’ or just ‘smells’. If we like how something smells, we could call it “fragrant” or “aromatic”, but that’s a bit formal; normally we just say it ‘smells good’. When the smell of baked bread wafts through the air, don’t say, “Ah, that really smells.” You say, “Ah, that smells good.” And to get even more specific, we’ll use equations: it smells like butterscotch candy or teenage ghost.
But in Jahai, a language of the Malay Peninsula, there is a series of single words for smells. They are not the words for the things something smells like, but just words, like our “stench”. to smell good, such as flowers, perfume or fruit is to “ltpɨt.” Smelling good food—for example, the smell of a Thanksgiving turkey from the kitchen—is “cŋəs.” Specifically smelling like roasting is “crŋir”. stink, such as rotten meat or shrimp paste, is to “haʔɛ̃t”.
So back to “satisfactory”. My girls bring me the “slime” they just made from glue, borax, and water, and cherish how “satisfying” it is to touch it. They use the same word when describing “fidget” toys. My partner’s son called victorious characters in one of his video games “satisfying” in how it sounds and feels to wield a win on screen. My younger one called the feel of the center of a baguette slice “satisfying” to squeeze.