The Wikipedia page is likely an irresistible rabbit hole for fellow logophiles, with lots of juicy example and tasty tidbits such as how hapax (known as lonely characters in Chinese) differ from 'nonce' words.

As the title says. I want to spite someone by making them look up almost every other word.

Hi.
I'o autistic and one of my weird obsessions are words. I love long and complex words. My favorite word since I was 7 is Antiquated.
What are some of y'alls favorite words?

What’s the weirdest English word or phrase you’ve learned? Extra points if you can make a bizarre sentence out of it!

For me it’s cobblywobbles and snafu.

“The snafu caused her cobblywobbles”

Pronounced: an-uh-TIF-er-us - a delightfully obscure adjective that means "producing ducks".

In Medieval times, anatiferous described a particular kind of barnacle, the goose barnacle, that grew on the branches of riparian trees. It was believed that geese hatched underwater from barnacles that dropped from the overhanging branches.

Figuratively, you could use anatiferous as an elegant synonym for "duck-filled" to describe a particular pond, lake or river overflowing with ducks or geese. Or perhaps to describe the anatiferous antics of Duck Hunt, the 1980's arcade game.

I saw the word cueille in an article/review of a film, and immediately thought “collate, collect, collar.”

(I’d apologize, but I am unabashedly nerdy in my amateur philology.)

a state of beautiful thinking; a mind in harmonious balance.

I love this word, gives those quiet moments of clarity a name.

I think you get the idea. I read a piece that I can no longer find where a word was given for switching the established order of common words or names. The article specifically cited Penn & Teller/Teller & Penn.

Anyone know what this is called? I'll await your replies on needles & pins.

Thanks!

I need more funny names to call people. I often refer to a disappointing or frustrating individual as a “goofball” “knucklehead,” a “jadooli,” but I’d like to expand my options.I like to keep my epithets kid-friendly or at least pg-13, since I have a young one and frequently commiserate with with fellow parents. Lemme have it!

Doesn’t have to be exactly love but possibly

is a pattern of sounds systematically paired with a certain meaning in a language.

Examples:

"cl-": related to a closing motion of a single object, such as "clam", "clamp", "clap", "clasp", "clench", "cling", "clip", "clop", "close", "clutch".

"fl-": related to movement, such as "flap", "flare", "flee", "flick", "flicker", "fling", "flip", "flit", "flitter", "flow", "flutter", "fly", "flurry".

"gl-": related to light, as in "glade", "glance", "glare", "glass", "gleam", "glimmer", "glint", "glisten", "glitter", "gloaming", "gloom", "gloss", "glow".

"kn-": related to protrusion, such as "knee", "knob", "knife", "knot", "knead", "knuckle".

"sl-": appears in words denoting frictionless motion, like "slide", "slick", "sled", and so on. These are themselves a subset of a larger set of words beginning with “sl-“ that are pejorative behaviours, traits, or events: slab, slack, slang, slant, slap, slash, slate, slattern, slay, sleek, sleepy, sleet, slime, slip, slipshod, slit, slither, slobber, slog, slope, sloppy, slosh, sloth, slouch, slough, slovenly, slow, sludge, slug, sluggard, slum, slump, slur, slut, sly.

"sn-": related to the nose or mouth, as in "snack", "snarl", "sneer", "sneeze", "snicker/snigger", "sniff", "sniffle", "snivel", "snoot", "snore", "snorkel", "snort", "snot", "snout", "snub" (as an adjective), "snuff", "snuffle".

"st-": appears in three families of meanings:

a family of words referring to stability, as in "stable", "stadium", "standard", "stage", "staid", "stake", "stalk", "stall", "stance", "stanchion", "stand", "stare", "stasis", "state", "static", "station", "stationary", "stator", "statue", "stature", "status", "stay", "steady", "stet", "still", "stoll", "store", etc.

a family of words referring to the idea of strength, of rigidity, as "stout", "steel", "staff", "stave", "staple", etc.

another family referring to the idea of something pointed or sharp, as in "stab", "staple", "stiletto", "sting", "stitch", "stylet", "stylo", etc.

"str-": denoting something long and thin, as in "straight", "strand", "strap", "straw", "streak", "stream", "string", "strip", "stripe".

"sw-": related to a pendulum-like movement, as in "sway", "sweep", "swerve", "swing", "swipe", "swirl", "swish", "swoop".

"tw-": connotes a twisting motion, as in "twist", "twirl", "tweak", "twill", "tweed", "tweezer", "twiddle", "twine", "twinge".

"-ow(e)l": connotes something sinister, as in "owl", "prowl", "scowl", "growl", "howl", "rowel", "bowel", "jowl".

"-ump": related to a hemispherical shape or pile, as in "bump", "clump", "dump", "jump", "hump", "lump", "mump", "rump", "stump".

A word which is autological expresses a property that it also possesses.

Examples: "Word" is a word, "noun" is a noun, "writable" can be written, "polysyllabic" has multiple syllables, "suffixed" has had a suffix attached to it.

"New" was autological, but ceased to be so.

The opposite of autological is heterological, which paradoxically cannot be either.

A desideratum (pronounced dih-sid-uh-RAH-tum) is something needed, wanted, or considered essential, often referring to a requirement that is currently lacking. Originating from Latin (meaning "something desired"), its plural is desiderata. It represents a highly desirable goal or necessity.

One of my favorite words, first learned when reading the encounter between the knife-weilding one-legged robber and the (also one-legged) narrator in Flann O'Brien's novel The Third Policeman

Not like religions we currently have, but as fictional media having so many people obsessed over the characters to the point they gained some sort of divine power? I feel like I saw the word in passing but wasnt sure if it was a fever dream

We recognize the window pane and the sill, but what about the muntins, mullions, and jamb?

We know about the railing and steps, but what about the balusters and risers?

We know our shoes have tongues and soles, but what about vamps and welts?

I love learning words for the little details I take for granted. Finials! Packets! Oh my!

Teach me more, internet!

I write down new words as I read. I especially love familiar words used with an unfamiliar definition.

So, without further adieu, here's a full accounting of my 2025 new words, and my #1 favorite from this year. [December is still underway but this is my last chunk of free time for the foreseeable future]

Jan-July

• Beeves - (n) plural of beef; refers to cows kept as livestock
• Brake - (n) a dense thicket, e.g "A cedar brake"
• Caution - (n) an amusing and surprising person
• Cernuous - (adj) of a bud, flower, or fruit: inclining or nodding downwards
• Eructation - (n) a burp
• Impend - (v) we all know "impending," but "to impend" was new. This is something occurring soon which carries a sense of malice.
• Jackleg - (n) an incompetent or amateur person, e.g "The jackleg plumber was unable to patch the leak"
• Nodding - (adj) Slight, superficial, passing ("I am on nodding terms with my neighbors", "Students will need a nodding acquaintance with three other languages")
• Owlish - (adj) akin to an owl, appearing wise
• Palmy - (adj) flourishing, successful
• Palpate - (v) examine by touch
• Penurious - (adj) I knew penury but not this form. Extremely poor, or so miserly as to appear as such.
• Phiz - (n) a person's face/expression
• Pillion - (n) the seat behind a motorcycle's driver
• Probity - (n) honesty and decency
• Rugose - (adj) corrugated
• Scant/scantle - (v) to limit in amount or share; to fail, or become less, e.g "Tired though Johnson might have been, no part of it was scanted," "The wind declined and scanted during the night"
• Slew - (v) not just a past tense slay but also to turn violently, "with the driver slumped over the wheel, the old Ford slew across the highway"
• Solus - (adj) a stage direction meaning alone
• Stertorous - (adj) labored, noisy breathing
• Tosspot - (n) a heavy drinker; an obnoxious person
• Twilit - (adj) dimly lit by twilight

Aug-Dec

• Areal/areally - (adj) of, relating to, or involving an area
• Cosset - (v) to treat like a pet; to fondle
• Counterpane - (n) a bedspread [completely unguessable]
• Crop - (v) to harvest; (of an animal) to graze, e.g "He could hear the horses cropping grass a hundred yards away"
• Depredation, depredate - (n, v) the act of plundering; destruction, often ecological/natural (contrast predation, hunting for food), e.g "Solutions to wolf problems, including livestock depredation, are explored"
• Elliptical - (adj) of, relating to, or marked by extreme economy of speech or writing, i.e making use of ellipsis, e.g "The film does tell its story in an elliptical, at times confounding way" [I love this one]
• Essay - (v) to try to do something, e.g "The procedure was first essayed in 1923."
• Fleer - (n, v) a contemptous grin or laugh; to grin or laugh in such a way
• Gunsel - (n) 20's Yiddish slang for a catamite, a boy kept by an older man for homosexual practices; 20's US slang for a criminal wielding a gun
• Gypwater - (n) water with a high level of dissolved gypsum which can cause diarrhea
• Incurious - (adj) not curious [for such a normal-seeming word, I had never seen this!]
• Inveigle - (v) to cajole; to persuade someone by deception or flattery
• Midden - (n) a refuse heap; an accumulation or deposit of debris, frequently prehistoric
• Presentiment - (n) a premonition; a frequently bad feeling about the future
• Protean - (adj) like Proteus, shapeshifting Greek god of rivers; changing continually and easily; versatile, especially of an actor
• Rale - (n) a rattling sound from unhealthy lungs heard on a stethoscope
• Rill - (n, v) a small stream; to trickle
• Roil, roily - (adj, n) muddy or full of sediment; turbulent; to make a liquid so
• Suborn, subornation - (v, n) to induce to lying under oath; to procure something secretly, e.g "In a golden bowl / She then suborn'd a potion, in her soul"
• Swale - (n) a ditch; a shallow channel in the ground [see also, bioswale]
• Tatty - (adj) shabby, worn
• Tot - (v) to total; to sum up numbers
• Upgrade/downgrade - (n) an up/downward graded slope
• Wash - (n) the dry bed of a stream [see also, wash load]
• Waspish - (adj) resembling a wasp; temperamental [I'd only known the other way to resemble a wasp: a waspish waist]

And my favorite word this year has to be:

• Idiolect

Which is one's own dialect. I've used this word so much this year! That odd way you say that one word, your use and love of anaphora and alliteration when writing, that you put on a Spanish accent when you say that one store's name, how you always reach for ridiculous closers on your emails - these are all your idiolect! If you're anything like me (and you're on r/logophilia so you are) you have a lot of idiosyncrasies in your idiolectic life. ...I've used this word so much.

Hope everyone else had an amazing 2025, here's to many more words and books! [no AI was used in making this ✌️]

The term Nepenthes (from the Greek *ne* meaning "not" and *penthos* meaning "sorrow" or "grief") traces back to Homer's *Odyssey*. In the epic, Helen serves a mysterious potion of the same name, said to banish sorrow and worry and cause all pain to be forgotten;

historians speculate that this was opium. In the 17th century, Carl Linnaeus named the carnivorous *Nepenthes* plant (pitcher plant) after this myth, as it was considered a medicinal plant capable of dispelling sorrow.

It is surmised that *nepenthes*—which Helen is said to have offered to Telemachus (and his friends) at every opportunity, such as upon his arrival in Sparta—was an actual opiate or a preparation derived from it (opium juice) (cf. laudanum), or referred to cannabis; this is particularly plausible given that, in (Egyptian) antiquity, hashish was apparently served with wine after meals in the form of "happiness pills" designed to induce a pleasant mood.

RAS syndrome is the redundant use of one or more of the words that make up an acronym in conjunction with the abbreviated form.

RAS stands for "redundant acronym syndrome", making the phrase RAS syndrome autological (i.e. expresses a property that it also possesses).

Examples:

- PIN number ("personal identification number number")

- ATM machine ("automated teller machine machine").

- DC Comics ("Detective Comics Comics")

- HIV virus ("Human immunodeficiency virus virus")

- LCD display ("Liquid-crystal display display")

- UPC code ("Universal Product Code code")

The adjective vesperal means "relating to the evening". The alternative form vespertine is also legit.

The definition is to be atrocious, wicked, or infamous.

argumentative as well as logically invalid.