Knellish

a blurry image of a person lying on a bed

Knellish

adj.
afraid to relax your body and drift off to sleep because you can’t help but notice how much it rhymes with death—lying flat on your back, your hands clumped on your chest, trying to force yourself to let go of consciousness, knowing you’ll almost certainly find your grip again but unsure exactly how that happens.

Armenian քնել (k’nel), sleep + knell, a ringing announcement of a death. Pronounced “nel-ish.”

Adomania

a person riding a horse

Aponemia

a group of people standing together

Kadot

a person looking at an abstract spiral

Craxis

a tall house of cards

Hem-Jawed

an abstract image of someone touching their face

Nilous

a person standing at a bus terminal

Furosha

a storm raging in the sky over a building

Dystoria

close up of water drops on a window

Evertheless

a person floating in water

Starlorn

snow flakes in the dark

Tornomov

a cloudy sky and landscape

Ecsis

a hand holding a fossil

Grayshift

a spiral staircase from above

Karanoia

a neat stack of white paper

Winnewaw

a person wearing a party hat

Irrition

a close up of a dandelion

Ironsick

a group of random devices

Achenia

a close-up of a bottle with an organic object inside

Falesia

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

Daguerreologue

Daguer-reologue

a man sitting in blurred silhouette at a desk

Blinkback

a wall full of pictures and objects

Archimony

a person looking at broken furniture

Drisson

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

Typifice

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

Mithenness

a person standing on the side of a road

Elosy

a blurry image of a person in a subway car

Vulture Shock

Cover image for the Vulture Shock word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows