Nemotia

a city with clouds of smoke

Nemotia

n.
the fear that you’re utterly powerless to change the world around you, looking on helplessly at so many intractable problems out there—slums that sprawl from horizon to horizon, daily headlines of an unstoppable civil war, a slick of air pollution blanketing the skyline—which makes the act of trying to live your own life feel grotesque and self-indulgent, as if you’re rubbernecking through the world.

Slovenian nemočen, powerless. Pronounced “nih-moh-shah.”

Licotic

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

Etterath

a graduation cap and gown on a chair

Fellchaser

a blurred shadow of a person in a dark room

Moledro

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

Manusia

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

Wollah

a person with shapes raining on them