Dolorblindness

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

Dolorblindness

n.
the frustration that you’ll never be able to understand another person’s pain, only ever searching their face for some faint evocation of it, then rifling through your own experiences for some slapdash comparison, wishing you could tell them truthfully, “I know exactly how you feel.”

Latin dolor, pain + colorblindness. Pronounced “doh-ler-blahynd-nis.”

Affogatia

miscellaneous items on a table

Énouement

a hand opening a curtain

Rialtoscuro

a blurry image of a light source

Waldosia

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

Leidenfreude

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

Sayfish

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