This template is used in translations tables to indicate the rare case that a language (the code of which must be specified as the first parameter) has no translation, not even an unidiomatic / sum-of-parts descriptive translation, for an English word. For example, a few languages have no third-person pronouns at all, let alone any gendered third-person pronouns, so they have no translation for he or she.
Compare Template:no equivalent translation, for when an ersatz or unidiomatic translation can be provided.