Word 01
Petrichor Noun
/ˈpɛtrɪkɔː/ · PET-ri-kor
Etymology. Coined 1964 by Bear & Thomas, from Greek petra (stone) + ichor (the fluid of the gods).
“The petrichor rose off the pavement within seconds of the storm.”
Department No. II · Room 2 · Floor 2
Thirty-two words worth keeping.
English has far more words than any one life requires. Thirty-two earned their place across this hub and the Lexicon: precise, musical, and slightly difficult to replace.
XXXIIWords admitted
IRejected weekly
0Lent
Within this department
- The Lexicon — all thirty-two words, with pronunciation, definition, and etymology.
- Nominations & Rejections — the rules of nomination and the registers of admissions and rejections.
- Word of the month — changed monthly; see the panel below.
Word of the monthSeptember
Querencia
Where one feels safest; one’s own ground. /keh-REN-thya.
From Spanish querer, to love; the bull’s chosen ground.
- Admitted
- Vellichor admitted after three readings. Register of admissions.
- Rejected
- Moist rejected by popular vote. Register of rejections.
- Standing order
- The Reader Aloud pronounces all thirty-two words before opening.
No. II · A
The Lexicon
All thirty-two admitted words, with pronunciation, definition, etymology, and example.
No. II · B
Nominations
Rules of nomination, how to nominate, and the registers of admissions and rejections.
Word 02
Susurrus Noun
/sʊˈsʌrəs/ · soo-SUR-ruhs
Etymology. Directly from Latin susurrus, a whisper; imitative in origin.
“Nothing but the susurrus of leaves in the reading room draught.”
Word 03
Apricity Noun
/əˈprɪsɪti/ · uh-PRIS-i-tee
Etymology. From Latin apricus, sunlit; recorded in English since 1623 and never common since.
“They stood in the doorway a full minute, enjoying the apricity.”
Word 04
Psithurism Noun
/ˈsɪθjʊərɪzəm/ · SITH-yoor-iz-um
Etymology. From Greek psithuros, whispering, + -ism.
“The psithurism outside made the quiet inside seem deliberate.”
Word 05
Sonder Noun
/ˈsɒndər/ · SON-der
Etymology. Modern coinage, 2012, by John Koenig in The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows; now in wide literary use though not in most desk dictionaries.
“A rush-hour platform is a reliable cure for the failure of sonder.”
Word 06
Limerence Noun
/ˈlɪmərəns/ · LIM-er-uhns
Etymology. Coined 1979 by psychologist Dorothy Tennov, deliberately without Latin roots so it would carry no prior associations.
“It was not love yet, only limerence, and it showed.”
Word 07
Palimpsest Noun
/ˈpælɪmpsɛst/ · PAL-imp-sest
Etymology. From Greek palin (again) + psēstos (scraped); via Latin palimpsestus.
“The city is a palimpsest: every street has been three streets before.”
Word 08
Serendipity Noun
/ˌsɛrənˈdɪpɪti/ · ser-un-DIP-i-tee
Etymology. Coined 1754 by Horace Walpole after the Persian tale The Three Princes of Serendip, whose heroes made such discoveries.
“Finding the letter was pure serendipity; she had been looking for a bus ticket.”
Word 09
Mellifluous Adjective
/mɛˈlɪflʊəs/ · mel-IF-loo-uhs
Etymology. From Latin mel (honey) + fluere (to flow).
“The announcements, unusually, were mellifluous rather than merely loud.”
Word 10
Ephemera Noun (plural)
/ɪˈfɛmərə/ · ef-EM-er-uh
Etymology. From Greek ephēmeros, lasting a day; singular ephemeron.
“The department’s own archive began as ephemera nobody thought to file.”
Word 11
Vellichor Noun
/ˈvɛlɪkɔː/ · VEL-i-kor
Etymology. Modern coinage, 2012, by John Koenig; from Latin vellus (vellum) + ichor.
“The vellichor of the barrow’s paperbacks kept her browsing an hour past closing.”
Word 12
Querencia Noun
/keˈɾenθja/ · keh-REN-thya
Etymology. From Spanish querencia, from querer (to love).
“The corner chair by the window was her querencia, and all regulars knew it.”
Word 13
Hiraeth Noun
/hɪˈraɪθ/ · hir-EYETH
Etymology. From Welsh hiraeth, longing for a lost or imagined home.
“The hymn gave him hiraeth for a valley he had never lived in.”
Word 14
Saudade Noun
/saʊˈdɑːdə/ · sow-DAH-duh
Etymology. From Portuguese saudade, often traced to Latin solitatem.
“Years abroad distilled themselves each autumn into pure saudade.”
Word 15
Defenestration Noun
/ˌdiːfɛnɪˈstreɪʃən/ · dee-fen-i-STRAY-shun
Etymology. From Latin de- + fenestra (window); immortalised at Prague, 1618.
“The ringing telephone narrowly escaped defenestration, in spirit if not in fact.”
Word 16
Quixotic Adjective
/kwɪkˈsɒtɪk/ · kwik-SOT-ik
Etymology. After Don Quixote, hero of Cervantes’s Don Quixote (1605).
“The plan to catalogue every teaspoon in the county was entirely quixotic, and entirely approved.”
Sixteen more in the Lexicon
Words 17 to 32 — from Halcyon to Xenial — are shelved in full in the Lexicon.
Department rule
A word is admitted only if it names something common that had, until then, no name. Nominations in writing.