Epistrix

several doors standing in a dark room

Epistrix

n.
a disconcerting cluster of endings that all seem to happen at once; a random barrage of departures and closures and divorces and series finales and celebrity deaths, which leaves you anxiously aware that the author of your story seems to be wrapping up an awful lot of loose ends.

Ancient Greek ἐπὶ- (epi-), on top of + ὕστριξ (hystrix), a porcupine. To sit on a porcupine is to feel the pain of too many endings all at once. Pronounced “ih-pis-triks.”

Keir

a snowy landscape with trees and a fence

Xeno

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

Spinning Playback Head

silhouette of a person looking out a window

Ameneurosis

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

Lilo

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

Nodrophobia

close-up of a stained shirt