Aimonomia

close-up of a plant with lights glowing in background

Aimonomia

n.
the fear that learning the name of something—a bird, a constellation, an attractive stranger—will somehow ruin it, inadvertently transforming a lucky discovery into a conceptual husk pinned in a glass case, leaving one less mystery fluttering around in the universe.

French aimer, to love + nom, name. A palindrome. Pronounced “eym-uh-nohm-ee-uh.”

Adomania

a person riding a horse

Aponemia

a group of people standing together

Kadot

a person looking at an abstract spiral

Craxis

a tall house of cards

Hem-Jawed

an abstract image of someone touching their face

Nilous

a person standing at a bus terminal

Furosha

a storm raging in the sky over a building

Dystoria

close up of water drops on a window

Evertheless

a person floating in water

Starlorn

snow flakes in the dark

Tornomov

a cloudy sky and landscape

Ecsis

a hand holding a fossil

Grayshift

a spiral staircase from above

Karanoia

a neat stack of white paper

Winnewaw

a person wearing a party hat

Irrition

a close up of a dandelion

Ironsick

a group of random devices

Achenia

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

Attriage

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

Altschmerz

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

Skidding

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

Aoyaoia

a person holding a guitar

Loss Of Backing

Cover image for the Loss Of Backing word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Daguerreologue

Daguer-reologue

a man sitting in blurred silhouette at a desk

Licotic

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

Ringlorn

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

Aesthosis

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