Starlorn

snow flakes in the dark

Starlorn

n.
a sense of loneliness looking up at the night sky, feeling like a castaway marooned in the middle of the ocean, whose currents are steadily carrying off all other castaways—entire worlds and stars whose only remnant is a scrap of light they flung overboard centuries ago, a message in a bottle that’s only just now washing up on our shores.

From star, a luminous dot in the cloudless sky + -lorn, sorely missing. Pronounced “stahr-lawrn.”

La Gaudière

Cover image for the La Gaudière word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Kerisl

piles of old books scattered in an abandoned room

Kinchy

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

Eftless

a person with hands pressed on a window

Midding

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

The Wends

Cover image for the The Wends word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows