Achenia

a close-up of a bottle with an organic object inside

Achenia

n.
the maddening sense that the world is too complex to even begin to understand, that whenever you try to answer even the most trivial question, it quickly tangles into a thicket of complications and melts into a quicksand of nuance, leaving you flailing for something solid to hold on to, struggling to come up with anything you could say that is definitively 100 percent true.

From achene, the fruit that contains the seed of a flowering plant, which is often confused for the seed itself. Whenever you think you’ve arrived at the heart of something, it only ends up hidden away inside some other more complicated structure. Pronounced “uh-kee-nee-uh.”

Furosha

a storm raging in the sky over a building

Nodrophobia

close-up of a stained shirt

Achenia

a close-up of a bottle with an organic object inside

Wollah

a person with shapes raining on them

Knellish

a blurry image of a person lying on a bed

Starlorn

snow flakes in the dark

Evertheless

a person floating in water

Rookish

a stone tower with a person seated on top

Elosy

a blurry image of a person in a subway car

Arroia

people standing on a stage

Dystoria

close up of water drops on a window

Aimonomia

close-up of a plant with lights glowing in background

Moriturism

a person resting in the back seat of a car

Mogging Folly

a person sitting on a bench

Suerza

a tunnel with a light emanating from the end

Galagog

a person alone in a snowy desolate landscape

Nemotia

a city with clouds of smoke

Future-Tense

a person looking at their reflection

Ecstatic Shock

Cover image for the Ecstatic Shock word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Lilo

Cover image for the Lilo word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Idlewild

Cover image for the Idlewild word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Aubadoir

Cover image for the Aubadoir word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Poggled

a person studying a book with a magnifying glass

Fellchaser

a blurred shadow of a person in a dark room

Attriage

Cover image for the Attriage word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Routwash

Cover image for the Routwash word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Aoyaoia

a person holding a guitar