Difficult but Intriguing Words

I know it’s been about 6 months since my last post, but my life has been pretty crazy lately so there ya go. But I plan on writing some more in the new year. Anyways, I just got this children’s book for my son and I called The Dictionary of Difficult Words, which was compiled and written by Jane Solomon, because I’m a bit of an logophile (lover of words, especially new and intriguing ones) and a Sesquipedalian (definition below). Secondarily I’m trying to expand my son’s vocabulary. Below are a list of words that I liked the sound of and forgot I knew or completely new words. See if you know any of them. I will put NFW next to the ones I am currently loving for my all-time favorite words list, my absolute favorite being “Kerfuffle”. 

Ailurophile: Someone who loves cats

Absquatulate: When someone absquatulates, they leave a place very quickly and without warning. (NFW)

Abecedarian: Someone who is learning the alphabet or who is a beginner in any subject

Bildungsroman: A story about someone who is growing up and learning about who they are. This sometimes called a coming-of-age story. 

Borborygmus: the rumbling sound that comes from someone’s stomach

Catoptromancy: When people use mirrors to uncover hidden knowlege, i.e. the Queen in Snow White using her mirror to learn Who is the fairest of them all?

Clowder: a group of cats

Cockalorum: Someone who thinks they are more important than they actually are

Cruciverbalist: Someone who creates or loves solving crossword puzzles

Deipnosophist: Someone who is very good at having interesting conversations with others while sitting down for a meal (NFW)

Dabster: Someone who is an expert at something

Ianthine: Something that is ianthine is the color violet (NFW)

Interrobang: A punctuation mark that combines the exclamation mark with the question mark. It’s used when someone is really surprised or really excited while asking a question

Kakistocracy: A government ruled by the worst people (cough cough Trump and cronies)

Lionize: When you lionize someone, you treat them as if they are very important and special

Metagrobolize: If you are metagrobolized by something, you are puzzled or confused by it

Mugwump: Someone who has a hard time making decisions, usually refers to politicians

Miscpocha: Someone’s family and very close friends

Mulligrubs: Someone who has the mulligrubs is very sad and is in a bad mood

Nucivorous: an animal that eats nuts such as squirrels

Omphaloscopy: When someone focuses too much on one idea and never gets anything done; also known as navel-gazing

Oology: the study of eggs, especially birds’ eggs

Orthography: When someone uses the word Orthography, they’re talking about how to spell words correctly

Prestidigitation: The art of moving your hands skillfully, so others think they’re actually seeing something that they’re not actually seeing (NFW)

Quidnunc: Someone who is very nosy and likes to gossip about the lives of other people

Quinquennium: a period of five years (NFW)

Ramfeezled: If someone is ramfeezled, they are worn out and exhausted

Ripsnorter: Something that’s extraordinary and amazing

Sesquipedalian: If someone is sesquipedalian, they know a lot of big words and they love using them (NFW)

Spaghettification: The idea that objects get long and skinny like spaghetti when they’re sucked into black holes (NFW)

Testudinal: Something related to tortoises, turtles, and their shells

Thigmotropism: the sense of touch that some plants have that makes them grow in spirals around things

Xanthic: Something that is the color yellow

Xenization: When someone uses this word, they’re talking about a person’s travels as a stranger (NFW)

Zenography: the study of the planet Jupiter

Zeugma: a type of play on words where one word is used in two different ways in relation to other words in the sentence. For example: She devoured her book and a sandwich.