Nyctous

a person walking in the middle of a street

Nyctous

adj.
feeling quietly overjoyed to be the only one awake in the middle of the night—sitting alone with a laptop and a cup of tea or strolling down the center line of an abandoned street—taking in the world like an empty theater between productions, stripped down to a simple black box, open to be whatever you want it to be.

From Nyctocereus, a genus of cactus that blooms only at night. Pronounced “nik-tuhs.”

Exulansis

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

Gobo

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

Arroia

people standing on a stage

Dorgone

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

Starlorn

snow flakes in the dark

Keyframe

a large rock in the water with emanating ripples