Have You Ever Heard These 25 Obscure English Words?

There’s something so satisfying about pulling out a $15 word—the kind that you hardly ever get to use, but fits the situation perfectly. On the other hand, that feeling when you can’t quite find the right word for what you’re trying to express is incredibly aggravating. Well, we’re here to help. Here are 25 weird, obscure, and downright cool words hidden in the English language.

●	Epeolatry: The worship of words. What better piece of vocabulary to kick off this list with?
●	Aglet: The little piece of plastic on the end of your shoelaces. (Crossword puzzle fans know this one.)
●	Grawlix: You know when cartoonists substitute a bunch of punctuation marks for curse words? They’re using grawlix.
●	Borborygmus: A rumbling in your stomach. Time for lunch!
●	Accubation: While you quell your borborygmus, you might engage in accubation—the act of comfortably reclining, often during a meal.
●	Jillick: To skip a stone across a surface of water.
●	Nibling: Here’s a handy word you might just now realize you were missing. Nibling is a gender-neutral term for a niece or nephew.
●	Tatterdemalion: Some words just sound like their meaning. A tatterdemalion is somebody wearing tattered clothing. It can also be used as an adjective meaning tattered or ragged in appearance.
●	Tittle: The word tittle has got just one tittle in it, but this sentence has six—no, seven—more. It’s the little dot above a lowercase j or i.
●	Pogonotrophy: You probably know someone who engages in pogonotrophy, the act of growing a beard, even if they don’t call it that.
●	Pilgarlic: On the opposite end of the spectrum, a pilgarlic is a bald-headed person—usually one you’re mocking or feeling sorry for.
●	Balter: One thing we can definitely do here at GrammarBook.com is balter. It means “to dance badly.”
●	Pandiculation: When you get up in the morning, sit on the edge of your bed, and stretch your arms in all directions, you’re actually pandiculating.
●	Sciapodous: Having large feet. Simple as that.
●	Natiform: Shaped like a butt. Perfect—no more relying on the peach emoji.
●	Defenestrate: You’ve got to wonder about the kind of mind that thinks there needs to be a word for throwing someone out of a window.
●	Bruxism: Do you grind your teeth at night? Tell your dentist that you suffer from bruxism.
●	Phosphene: While you’re pandiculating, you might also press your knuckles into your eyes until little stars appear. Those specks of light are called phosphenes.
●	Cataglottism: Technically, you may already know another word for cataglottism, but it’s a great way to make “french kiss” sound a lot less sexy.
●	Lemniscate: A figure 8 turned on its side—in other words, the infinity symbol.
●	Obelus: The division symbol (÷), which we were surprised had an actual name.
●	Preantepenultimate: Ultimate is last, penultimate is second-to-last, antepenultimate is third-to-last, which makes this the preantepenultimate word on this list.
●	Griffonage: You might call sloppy handwriting “chicken scratch,” but griffonage rolls off the tongue much more easily.
●	Archimime: Frankly, we didn’t think that this word would mean exactly what it sounds like, but it does. The archimime is the chief buffoon or jester. The boss clown, in other words.
●	Tyrotoxism: Scratch what we said about defenestrate earlier—the fact that somebody came up with a word for “to poison with cheese” is much more unbelievable.

—Reuben Westmaas.

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6 responses to “Have You Ever Heard These 25 Obscure English Words?”

1. Lita says:

   January 16, 2019, at 9:12 am

   I’m in love with this list of weird, fun words! It brightened my day.

2. Dinah Rogers says:

   January 16, 2019, at 9:35 am

   This is one of your best columns ever! I like this so much I might use the list for Word of the Day, although it will be challenging to work in a few of them. I’m thinking the pogonotrophic pilgarlic archimime in my life won’t know their meanings anyway, so I can always use them on him…probably a better idea than the tyrotoxism or defenestration I’ve been contemplating for his demise.

3. John C. says:

   January 19, 2019, at 6:33 pm

   Great stuff! Thank you. That was very enjoyable and entertaining. I shall certainly memorize and use some of those words in appropriate circumstances.

4. David B. says:

   January 19, 2019, at 6:35 pm

   Don’t forget octothorpe, the pound sign (#).

   • GrammarBook.com says:

     January 19, 2019, at 6:38 pm

     Good one. Thanks.

5. Philip Bunn says:

   February 4, 2019, at 11:19 pm

   “I don’t give a tittle or a jot
   At least I know what they’re not.
   But a jot’s not a tittle,
   Though it matters very little,
   That a tittle can be found in a jot!”

   PS – and vice versa.