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.”