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

Anechosis

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

Semaphorism

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

Inerrata

a hand holding a broken cup

Poggled

a person studying a book with a magnifying glass

Starlorn

snow flakes in the dark

Mcfeely

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

Lookaback

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

Daguerreologue

Daguer-reologue

a man sitting in blurred silhouette at a desk

Anticious

a group of men in hats looking at elevated signage