Unique Words With Meaning

What are unique words with meaning?

A unique word, as the term implies, is a word that describes a specific feeling or idea that no other English word can. These aren't obscure terms or old words no one uses; they're real words that fill gaps, words you find yourself using again and again once you learn them, and that no other term in the English language can fill.

The best example I can think of is sonder. This word was coined by John Koenig for his Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, a project dedicated to inventing words for feelings that don't have any adjectives to describe them. Sonder means a profound realization that every random passerby is living a life as vivid, complex, and emotionally deep as your own, each with their own worries, their own morning routine, their own highs and lows. Before this word was coined, no word could describe it. Now it does. And when one becomes acquainted with them, he will find himself frequently using them because no other word does the job as well.

This is why unique words are valuable, beyond just expanding one's vocabulary. Language isn't just about describing experience, but it also shapes it. The word for an experience allows you to think about it more clearly, to talk about it more precisely, and to notice it when it occurs again. You may have experienced the feeling before, but once you have a word for it, you can think about, talk about, and notice it again.

All the words in this list of the tool's unique vocabulary share a few key characteristics: they describe common, yet nameless feelings and ideas, aspects of human experience that are sure but haven't been put into words. They are unusual words because the words themselves are unusual, not the experiences that they describe.

Untranslatable words English needed to borrow

Every language fills in the gaps left by other languages. To describe an experience or concept for which English has no word, it can borrow from other languages, either natural or artificial. There are ten or so such borrowed words which have become particularly celebrated, and here are the full definitions of each of them.

Sonder (Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, coined from French and German): This word refers to the realization that every stranger you see on the street is living a life with its own unique set of ambitions, habits, fears, and people it loves. The word was coined by John Koenig in a Web series of his, and it is derived from the French word sonder, which means to probe or investigate, and the German word Sonder, which is special. It has spread rapidly on the Internet because it describes something every single person can recognize and that previously had no word.

Vellichor (Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows): There is something peculiarly wistful about used bookshops. Perhaps it is the smell of old paper and the impression of time having ceased to tick while at the same time having amassed itself in the heaps of books, the odd annotations by previous readers, the often surprising lives of books that have been read and then put down and forgotten. Koenig has coined this phrase, and it seems to me to be one of his more successful as it describes something real.

Hiraeth (Welsh): A yearning for a home that cannot be returned to; a home that in fact never existed. It encompasses homesickness, nostalgia and grief. No single English word captures this feeling as hiraeth does. This most traveled of Welsh words forms part of a complex vocabulary which attempts to express the various emotions evoked by centuries of human migration, exodus and diaspora.

Mamihlapinatapai (Yagán, Tierra del Fuego): Recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as one of the most succinct words in any language. It is the look exchanged between two people who want something to happen but don't want to be the one to make it happen. The word comes from the virtually extinct language of the Yagán people but describes something universal that is used all over the world.

Fernweh (German): This feeling, quite the opposite of homesickness, is often referred to in English as "wanderlust", a term borrowed from the German language. However, while "wanderlust" expresses a desire to travel to foreign lands, "fernweh" conveys a deep longing, often accompanied by a touch of pain. As such, "fernweh" is far more than mere wanderlust, it is a deep ache or discomfort for far-off places and lands, an ache that is not assuaged by the mere knowledge or sight of them, and which in fact increases with each and every passing day, in the hope that soon one will be there.

Schadenfreude (German): Pleasure derived from another person's misfortune. This word was borrowed by English to describe a feeling which English had no word for and "gloating" does not precisely describe. Schadenfreude is English for "taking pleasure in someone else's misfortune". English had no word for this feeling, so the German compound was borrowed wholesale and has stuck.

Yugen (Japanese): The profound and mysterious perception of the universe and the unfathomable feelings it gives rise to, which no words can express. This concept is explored in Japanese aesthetics and also in the drama of Noh. It is the subject of much haiku, of much minimalist art, and of the feeling one has on gazing at a remote mountain.

Mono no aware (Japanese): Often translated as "the pathos of things." The awareness of the transience of things is bitter and also sweet. The symbol of this is the blooming of cherry blossoms and their falling. It is a term found in many Japanese literary works and is representative of Japanese aesthetics.

Toska (Russian): Toska is "a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause," Vladimir Nabokov once noted. It is a deep and abiding pain, a dull ache. This form of despair is distinct from depression, Nabokov said, in that it is restless and nameless. There is nothing to long for, and yet one feels the sensation of longing.

Wabi-sabi (Japanese): The beauty of imperfection, impermanence, and incompleteness. A cracked tea bowl repaired with gold, a weathered wooden bench, a garden that shows its seasons, all express wabi-sabi. The aesthetic philosophy accepts imperfection as a source of beauty rather than a defect to be corrected.

Why naming an experience changes how you feel it

Why is it so satisfying to come across unique words and to learn their meaning? From a psychological point of view, the phenomenon is connected with the concept of emotional granularity. This term describes the ability to differentiate between the finest nuances of human emotions and not to reduce them to "good", "bad", "happy" or "sad".

Researcher Lisa Feldman Barrett and her colleagues found that people with high emotional granularity (i.e., those who used a wide and nuanced vocabulary of emotions) were better able to regulate their emotions, had less negative affect for longer periods of time, and were more resilient in the face of trauma. The reason for this is simple: when we have a word for our emotions, we are able to think more clearly about them. Saying "I am feeling something" is less impactful compared to "I am feeling hiraeth". Hiraeth has a history and a shape, and once we have named it, we are able to respond to it in a more focused way.

This is what linguists call "filling a lexical gap," or adding to a language's vocabulary to cover concepts and experiences that have so far been unknown to the language. This isn't as simple as increasing one's database of words. Rather, each new word or borrowed term that we add to our library to describe our experiences not only adds to the sum total of words at our disposal but also creates new ways of thinking about our experiences and of communicating them to others.

When words such as sonder and hiraeth go mainstream, they reveal that people knew the experiences they described before the words existed. They had felt them and were relieved to have a term to describe them. This is why a word's rapid spread is often seen as a signal that a linguistic gap has closed: the word existed before it did, in the sense that the experience it described had long existed and was waiting to be named.

Another benefit isn't just intellectual but also emotional. Knowing these words will help one identify the emotions they're experiencing, thus helping them process these sentiments better than if they didn't know them.

English words with surprisingly specific meanings

Not all unique words are borrowed. English, for example, has many words whose definitions are more precise than most people realize. These words sound ordinary the first time you hear them but actually point to something specific, and you'll notice this the more you investigate.

Petrichor is the classic example. The word was coined by two Australian mineralogists, Isabel Joy Bear and Richard Thomas, in 1964, to describe the smell that rises when rain falls on dry soil. The smell comes from a combination of the earthy scent of geosmin (a compound produced by certain types of soil bacteria) and the oils that plants exude before they die. These oils evaporate in dry weather and linger in the air until washed away by rain. Until 1964, there was no word in English to describe this most common of smells, and today we have it to thank to two Australian mineralogists.

Liminal refers to a threshold state or area, such as the space between wakefulness and sleep; between the end of a period of life and the beginning of another; between inside and outside space. The term comes from the Latin word limen, or threshold. As used by the anthropologist Victor Turner, the middle phase of a ritual in which the individual has shed or renounced a previous status but has not yet taken on the new one is liminal. The internet has more recently adopted the term to describe an eerie sense of waiting in such spaces as empty corridors, late-night parking lots, and silent waiting rooms. In-between is another way of expressing the concept, but it is not as precise.

Defenestration is humorous in a very specific way: it refers to the act of throwing a person or thing out of a window. It is derived from the Latin word for window, "fenestra." Defenestration is so unique because historically the act occurred with such regularity that it warranted a word. The most famous incident of defenestration occurred in Prague in 1618 when two officials were thrown out of a window of a castle, and soon the Thirty Years' War began. The word has the precision to be humorous.

While many people refer to serendipity as luck, the term more specifically denotes a type of happy discovery. That happy discovery is often made accidentally while searching for something else. Thus, serendipity implies searching and is the opposite of mere good fortune.

Hypnagogic describes the half-awake, half-asleep state where images, sounds, and sensations appear but aren't necessarily part of a dream. Many famous inventors, including Thomas Edison, have reported entering this state to receive inspiration for their projects. Most people enter this state every night, but few know what to call it.

Schadenfreude (harm joy) is typically described as the pleasure that one derives from someone else's failure or misfortune. This phenomenon is given its own name by the German words for harm (Schaden) and joy (Freude). Writers comment on the fact that Schadenfreude is usually felt most strongly when the fallen person "had it coming" to them, i.e., they were a rival, had been cheating in some way, etc. This additional moral dimension is not contained within the term's definition, but it is why we still use the word.

How to use unique words without alienating your reader

The risk with rare or borrowed words is the same risk as with any specialized vocabulary: a word that is perfect for readers familiar with it is impossible for readers unfamiliar with it to understand without context. In contrast to 'normal' elevated vocabulary like ephemeral or melancholy that most readers can make out even if they haven't encountered them before, words like hiraeth, mamihlapinatapai, or hypnagogic usually need a lot of context.

The practical rules for using unique words well:

Define when the word is the point. If you are introducing a word because the concept behind it is of interest to your reader and they should know that there is a word for this, then tell them that there is a word for this concept and explain the word. For example: "There is a Japanese word, mono no aware, for the bittersweet awareness that all things are transient. Cherry blossoms are the classic example." This uses the word to introduce a concept rather than to test the reader's knowledge of words.

Use context when the meaning can be inferred. You don't need to stop and explain a word if it's clear enough from context. For example: "The hiraeth in his voice was unmistakable, he was describing a place that had existed, once, but existed no longer." Someone familiar with the word hiraeth will take a lot of pleasure in its use; someone unfamiliar will understand it through context.

Register awareness is essential. This type of word (whether borrowed or coined) should be used in a context that matches the word. Thus, using the German word schadenfreude in a casual text message would be out of place, but in an essay about human nature would be more appropriate.

Earn borrowed words. The use of a borrowed word from another language (hiraeth, fernweh, sonder, etc.) implies that English possesses no adequate equivalent for the concept at hand and that the foreign word in question is the correct one to use. If the word hiraeth is used, it is because the word "homesickness" or "longing" would not be quite adequate to express the particular quality that the word hiraeth conveys.

If you're looking to add to your vocabulary to improve your storytelling abilities, try the cool words list. This page includes many unique words organized by category. Also, have a look at the aesthetic words list, which covers words that overlap with this list but lean toward sensory and emotional resonance. For students looking to build vocabulary in an academic context, try the SAT vocabulary words tool if they're joining a SAT competition or just want to find something productive to do during summer break.