Vellichor

shelves with many books stacked and organized

Vellichor

n.
the strange wistfulness of used bookstores, which are somehow infused with the passage of time—filled with thousands of old books you’ll never have time to read, each of which is itself locked in its own era, bound and dated and papered over like an old room the author abandoned years ago, a hidden annex littered with thoughts left just as they were on the day they were captured.

From vellum, parchment + ichor, the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in Ancient Greek mythology. Pronounced “vel-uh-kawr.”

Waldosia

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

Flichtish

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

Mithenness

a person standing on the side of a road

Wildred

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

Suerza

a tunnel with a light emanating from the end

Occhiolism

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