Nieśmiała dziewczynka i nowy przyjaciel w Disneylandzie

What does “nieśmiały” mean in Polish?

The Polish word for shy, nieśmiały, is built from its opposite: śmiały means bold or daring, and the nie- prefix flips it. So a shy person is literally “un-daring” — someone who doesn’t quite dare. The little girl in the story is the word in action: too nieśmiała to greet the boy in the matching costume, until she gathers her courage (zbiera odwagę) and does.

Behind śmiały sits the verb śmieć — “to dare” — best known from the outraged Jak śmiesz! (“How dare you!”). Watch out for the look-alikes, though: śmiać się is “to laugh,” and śmieci are trash — three unrelated families that trip learners up. The noun for the girl’s feeling is nieśmiałość (shyness), and her cure in the clip is textbook Polish advice: rozluźnij się — relax.