15 Obscure Words For Everyday Feelings and Emotions: Sorrows or Meaning of Liff

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15 Obscure Words for Everyday

Feelings And Emotions
BY PAUL ANTHONY JONES

MARCH 14, 2019
ISTOCK.COM/MILKOS
Given that it runs to more than a quarter of a million words, there’s a good chance
that the English language will probably have the word you’re looking for. But
when it comes to describing hard-to-describe feelings and emotions, much is
made of the English language’s shortcomings: We either have to turn to foreign
languages to describe situations like coming up with a perfect comeback when the
moment has passed (esprit de l’escalier—thank you French), or else use resources
like the brilliant, but sadly entirely fictitious, Dictionary of Obscure
Sorrows or Meaning of Liff.
But so vast is the English language that words for feelings and emotions, and to
describe the human condition, have actually found their way into the dictionary.
So there’s no need to call that comeback esprit de l’escalier, because the
word afterwit has been in use in English since the late 16th century. And here are
15 more obscure English words to describe feelings that are otherwise
indescribable.
1. CROOCHIE-PROOCHLES
The superb Scots dialect word croochie-proochles means the feeling of

discomfort or fidgetiness that comes from sitting in a cramped position (like, say,
on an airplane).
2. NIKHEDONIA
You’re playing a game, and you suddenly realize that you’ve got it in the bag. Or
you’re watching your favorite team play and, after a close-fought match, you see
that they’re surely going to win. That’s nikhedonia—the feeling of excitement or
elation that comes from anticipating success.
3. ALYSM
Alysm is the feeling of restlessness or frustrated boredom that comes from being

unwell. When you’re desperate to get on with your day but you’re so under the
weather that you can’t bring yourself to get out of bed? That’s alysm.
4. SHIVVINESS
A shive is a tiny splinter or fragment of something, or else a loose thread sticking

out of a piece of fabric. And derived from that, shivviness is an old
Yorkshire dialect word for the feeling of discomfort that comes from wearing new
underwear—a word that surely needs to be more widely known.
5. DÉJÀ-VISITÉ
Yes, strictly speaking this isn’t an English word, but like the more familiar déjà-
vu before it, we have nevertheless had the foresight to borrow déjà-visité from
French and add it to our dictionaries—it’s just not used as often as its more
familiar cousin. It describes the peculiar sensation of knowing your way around
somewhere you’ve never been before.
6. PRESQUE-VU
One more term we’ve borrowed from French is presque-vu. It literally means
“almost seen,” and refers to that sensation of forgetting or not being able to
remember something, but feeling that you could remember it any minute.
7. GWENDERS
That tingling feeling you get in your fingers when they’re cold? That’s gwenders.
8. MISSLIENESS
The Scots dialect word misslieness means “the feeling of solitariness that comes

from missing something or someone you love.”
9. EUNEIROPHRENIA AND 10. MALNEIROPHRENIA
Oneiros was the Greek word for a dream, and derived from that the English
language has adopted a handful of obscure terms like oneirocriticism (the
interpretation of dreams), oneirodynia (a night’s sleep disturbed by nightmares),
and this pair. Euneirophrenia is the feeling of contentment that comes from
waking up from a pleasant dream, while malneirophrenia is the feeling of unease
or unhappiness that comes from waking up from a nightmare.
11. LONESOME-FRET
That feeling of restlessness or unease that comes from being on your own too long
is lonesome-fret, an 18th/19th century dialect word defined as “ennui from
lonesomeness” by the English Dialect Dictionary.
12. FAT-SORROW
“Sorrow alleviated by riches”—or, put another way, sadness alleviated by

material things—is fat-sorrow. It’s a term best remembered from the old
adage that “fat sorrow is better than lean sorrow.”
13. HORROR VACUI
The dislike some people have of leaving an empty space anywhere—like on a

wall or in furnishing a room—is called horror vacui, a Latin term originally
adopted into English in the mid-19th century to refer to the tendency of some
artists to fill every square inch of their paintings or artworks with detail.
14. CRAPULENCE
When the word hangover just won’t do it justice, there’s crapulence. As the OED
defines it, crapulence is a feeling of “sickness or indisposition resulting from
excess in drinking or eating.”
15. HUCKMUCK
According to the English Dialect Dictionary, the confusion that comes from
things not being in their right place—like when you’ve moved everything around
while you’re cleaning your house—is called huckmuck.
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ARROW

15 Obscure Words for Everyday

The superb Scots dialect word croochie-proochles means the feeling of

Alysm is the feeling of restlessness or frustrated boredom that comes from being

A shive is a tiny splinter or fragment of something, or else a loose thread sticking

The Scots dialect word misslieness means “the feeling of solitariness that comes

9. EUNEIROPHRENIA AND 10. MALNEIROPHRENIA

“Sorrow alleviated by riches”—or, put another way, sadness alleviated by

13. HORROR VACUI

The dislike some people have of leaving an empty space anywhere—like on a

This list fir

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