Rasque

close-up of the shards of a broken vase

Rasque

n.
a moment you instantly wish you could take back, feeling a pulse of dread right after crossing the point of no return—a blurted confession, a hurled insult, a final decision you’d been waffling over for months— wanting to take just one step backward in time, reverting to the way things used to be, in the halcyon days of just a minute ago.

From rue, to regret + bourrasque, a tempest. Pronounced “rask.”

Beloiter

a person sitting at a slot machine

Ghough

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

Watashiato

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

Midsummer

a person standing in a garden holding a clock

Scrough

a person working on the sidewalk

Proluctance

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