Monachopsis

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

Monachopsis

n.
the subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place, as maladapted to your surroundings as a seal on a beach, lumbering and clumsy, huddled in the company of other misfits, dreaming of life in your natural habitat, a place where you’d be fluidly, brilliantly, effortlessly at home.

Ancient Greek μοναχός (monakhós), single, solitary + ὄψις (ópsis), vision. Pronounced “mon-uh-kop-sis.”

Adomania

a person riding a horse

The Unsharp Mask

a mirror with a reflection of a person

Walloway

water faucet that seems to emanate from the ground

Lockheartedness

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

Waldosia

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

Tirosy

a close-up of a young child's face