Wollah

a person with shapes raining on them

Wollah

n.
something you’ve misunderstood for years without knowing it—a familiar word with a weird pronunciation, a favorite saying that means the opposite of what you thought, a well-known factoid that was disproven years ago while you weren’t looking—making you want to stress-test the foundations of your understanding of reality.

A mispronunciation of the French voilà, “behold!” Pronounced “wawl-uh.”

Winnewaw

a person wearing a party hat

Wollah

a person with shapes raining on them

Nilous

a person standing at a bus terminal

Ironsick

a group of random devices

Craxis

a tall house of cards

Kadot

a person looking at an abstract spiral

Knellish

a blurry image of a person lying on a bed

Offtides

close-up of a chromed metal object

Caucic

a close-up of a stone walking path

Furosha

a storm raging in the sky over a building

Rialtoscuro

a blurry image of a light source

Dystoria

close up of water drops on a window

Arroia

people standing on a stage

Evertheless

a person floating in water

Aimonomia

close-up of a plant with lights glowing in background

Beloiter

a person sitting at a slot machine

Hem-Jawed

an abstract image of someone touching their face

Suerza

a tunnel with a light emanating from the end

Anecdoche

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

Idlewild

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

Lilo

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

Kerisl

piles of old books scattered in an abandoned room

Ioia

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

Povism

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

Thwit

close-up of a person with forehead wrinkled and holding their head

Anticious

a group of men in hats looking at elevated signage

Fensiveness

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