The Dolgopolsky list is a word list compiled by Aharon Dolgopolsky in 1964. It lists the 15 lexical items that have the most semantic stability, i.e. they are the 15 words least likely to be replaced by other words as a language evolves. It was based on a study of 140 languages from across Eurasia. List The words, with the first being the most stable, are: I/me two/pair you (singular, informal) who/what tongue name eye heart tooth no/not nail (finger-nail) louse/nit tear/teardrop water dead The first item in the list, I/me, has been replaced in none of the 140 languages during their recorded history; the fifteenth, dead, has been replaced in 25% of the languages. The twelfth item, louse/nit, is well kept in the North Caucasian languages, Dravidian and Turkic, but not in some other proto-languages. See also Leipzig–Jakarta list Swadesh list Comparative linguistics References External links Concepticon Word lists Linguistics lists