Caucic

a close-up of a stone walking path

Caucic

adj.
afraid that the rest of your life is already laid out in front of you, that you’re being swept inexorably along a series of predictable milestones—from school to graduation to career to marriage to kids to retirement to death—which makes you wish you could pull off to the side of the road for a little while, to stretch your legs and spread out the map so you can double-check that you’re headed the right way.

Middle English cauci, path or road + caustic, able to burn or corrode living tissue. Pronounced “kaw-sik.”

Elsing

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

Licotic

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

Heartmoor

a campfire with a kettle many small logs

Aimonomia

close-up of a plant with lights glowing in background

Lilo

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

Achenia

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