Kinchy

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

Kinchy

adj.
feeling guilty that you care about your own petty concerns more deeply than faraway cataclysms—that a family spat hurts more than a civil war, that a three-day fever hits you harder than climate change.

Japanese 近視 (kinshi), near-sightedness. A word just shy of kinship. Pronounced “kin-chee.”

Poggled

a person studying a book with a magnifying glass

Rookish

a stone tower with a person seated on top

Vellichor

shelves with many books stacked and organized

Insoucism

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

Echthesia

blurry image of two clocks

Pâro

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