Have You Ever Heard These 25 Obscure English Words?
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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.
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| ● | Epeolatry: The worship of words. What better piece of vocabulary to kick off this list with?
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| ● | Aglet:
The little piece of plastic on the end of your shoelaces. (Crossword
puzzle fans know this one.)
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| ● | Grawlix:
You know when cartoonists substitute a bunch of punctuation marks for
curse words? They're using grawlix.
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| ● | Borborygmus:
A rumbling in your stomach. Time for lunch!
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| ● | Accubation:
While you quell your borborygmus, you might engage in
accubation—the act of comfortably reclining, often during a meal.
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| ● | Jillick:
To skip a stone across a surface of water.
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| ● | 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.
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| ● | 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.
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| ● | 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.
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| ● | Pogonotrophy:
You probably know someone who engages in pogonotrophy, the act of
growing a beard, even if they don't call it that.
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| ● | Pilgarlic:
On the opposite end of the spectrum, a pilgarlic is a bald-headed
person—usually one you're mocking or feeling sorry for.
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| ● | Balter:
One thing we can definitely do here at GrammarBook.com is balter. It
means "to dance badly."
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| ● | 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.
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| ● | Sciapodous:
Having large feet. Simple as that.
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| ● | Natiform:
Shaped like a butt. Perfect—no more relying on the peach emoji.
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| ● | 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.
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| ● | Bruxism:
Do you grind your teeth at night? Tell your dentist that you suffer
from bruxism.
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| ● | 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.
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| ● | 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.
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| ● | Lemniscate:
A figure 8 turned on its side—in other words, the infinity
symbol.
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| ● | Obelus:
The division symbol (÷), which we were surprised had an actual
name.
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| ● | Preantepenultimate:
Ultimate
is last, penultimate is second-to-last, antepenultimate is third-to-last, which makes this the
preantepenultimate word on this list.
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| ● | Griffonage:
You might call sloppy handwriting "chicken scratch," but griffonage rolls off the tongue much more easily.
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| ● | 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.
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| ● | 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. |
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Wordplay
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