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.”

Ecsis

a hand holding a fossil

Ellipsism

a hand clawing at a wall

Angosis

a table full of food

Future-Tense

a person looking at their reflection

Grayshift

a spiral staircase from above

Starlorn

snow flakes in the dark

Aponemia

a group of people standing together

Nodrophobia

close-up of a stained shirt

Mogging Folly

a person sitting on a bench

Adomania

a person riding a horse

Moriturism

a person resting in the back seat of a car

Aoyaoia

a person holding a guitar

Tornomov

a cloudy sky and landscape

Elosy

a blurry image of a person in a subway car

Achenia

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

Karanoia

a neat stack of white paper

Eftless

a person with hands pressed on a window

Irrition

a close up of a dandelion

Eisce

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

Redesis

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

Etterath

a graduation cap and gown on a chair

Anecdoche

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

Anticious

a group of men in hats looking at elevated signage

Kadot

a person looking at an abstract spiral

Heartmoor

a campfire with a kettle many small logs

Suente

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

Immerensis

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