Knellish

a blurry image of a person lying on a bed

Knellish

adj.
afraid to relax your body and drift off to sleep because you can’t help but notice how much it rhymes with death—lying flat on your back, your hands clumped on your chest, trying to force yourself to let go of consciousness, knowing you’ll almost certainly find your grip again but unsure exactly how that happens.

Armenian քնել (k’nel), sleep + knell, a ringing announcement of a death. Pronounced “nel-ish.”

Halfwise

a train coming towards the camera shot from the tracks

Rookish

a stone tower with a person seated on top

Gaudia Civis

a close-up of a gear

Adronitis

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

Hanker Sore

Cover image for the Hanker Sore word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Present-Tense

a close-up of a stopwatch