100 Words That Make You Say “There’s a Word for That?”

100 Words That Make You Say

No. Item Definition
1. aglet The protective tip of a shoelace.
2. akrasia Acting against your own better judgment.
3. alexithymia Difficulty identifying and describing your own emotions.
4. amphigory Nonsensical writing that imitates meaningful literature.
5. anhedonia Inability to experience pleasure.
6. anosmia Loss of the sense of smell.
7. apophasis Mentioning something by claiming not to mention it.
8. aposiopesis Deliberately breaking off a sentence unfinished.
9. backronym An expanded phrase invented for an existing word.
10. borborygmus A rumbling sound from your intestines.
11. Brocken spectre An enlarged observer’s shadow cast onto cloud.
12. bruxism Habitual teeth grinding or clenching.
13. canthus Either corner where your upper and lower eyelids meet.
14. caret A mark showing where text should be inserted.
15. coeval Someone or something of the same age.
16. colophon A statement identifying a book’s production details.
17. contronym A word with two opposite meanings.
18. crepitus A crackling or grating sound within the body.
19. defenestration The act of throwing someone through a window.
20. deliquescence Absorbing airborne moisture until dissolving into liquid.
21. diastema A gap between two teeth.
22. dinkus A small decorative mark separating sections of text.
23. doggerel Clumsy or deliberately comic verse.
24. earworm A tune that keeps repeating in your mind.
25. echolalia Automatic repetition of words spoken by others.
26. efflorescence A powdery salt deposit appearing on a surface.
27. eggcorn A mistaken phrase substitution that seems logically plausible.
28. endpaper Paper joining a book’s cover to its pages.
29. escutcheon A protective or decorative plate around a keyhole.
30. ferrule A ring or cap strengthening a shaft’s end.
31. fleuron A flower-shaped ornament used in printing.
32. flibbertigibbet A flighty, excessively talkative person.
33. fore-edge The edge of a book opposite its spine.
34. formication The feeling of insects crawling on your skin.
35. foxing Brownish spots that develop on aging paper.
36. frisson A sudden shiver of excitement or emotion.
37. fuller A groove running along a blade.
38. glabella The smooth area between your eyebrows.
39. glory Colored rings surrounding a shadow on mist.
40. graupel Soft pellets formed when frozen droplets coat snowflakes.
41. grommet A ring reinforcing a hole in material.
42. guillemet An angled quotation mark, like « or ».
43. gusset An inserted fabric panel adding room or strength.
44. hoarfrost Feathery ice crystals deposited directly from water vapor.
45. hypnic jerk An involuntary twitch as you fall asleep.
46. interrobang A punctuation mark combining question and exclamation marks.
47. iridescence Shifting rainbowlike colors as the viewing angle changes.
48. jetsam Goods deliberately thrown overboard to lighten a ship.
49. kakistocracy Government by the least qualified or most unscrupulous.
50. lagan Sunken goods marked by a buoy for recovery.
51. lethologica Temporary inability to recall a particular word.
52. lickspittle Someone who flatters powerful people for personal advantage.
53. limerence Intense romantic obsession with another person.
54. logorrhea Excessive, often incoherent talking.
55. lunula The pale crescent at a fingernail’s base.
56. malapropism Mistaken use of a similar-sounding word.
57. manicule A pointing-hand symbol directing attention to text.
58. marginalia Notes or markings in a book’s margins.
59. meniscus The curved surface of liquid in a container.
60. moiré An interference pattern created by overlapping regular patterns.
61. mondegreen A misheard lyric or phrase.
62. nap The raised fuzzy surface of certain fabrics.
63. nibling A gender-neutral word for a niece or nephew.
64. nyctinasty Nighttime folding or closing movements of plants.
65. obelus The division symbol, ÷.
66. octothorpe The hash symbol, #.
67. omphaloskepsis Contemplation of your navel as a meditation aid.
68. oronym A phrase sounding like another with different boundaries.
69. parapraxis A minor error interpreted as revealing unconscious feelings.
70. pareidolia Seeing recognizable shapes in random patterns.
71. petrichor The earthy smell after rain on dry ground.
72. philomath A person who loves learning.
73. philtrum The groove between your nose and upper lip.
74. phosphene A light sensation produced without light entering.
75. pica Persistent eating of substances that aren’t food.
76. piloerection The raising of body hairs, producing goosebumps.
77. quidnunc Someone excessively curious about other people’s affairs.
78. retronym A new name distinguishing something from newer versions.
79. rime Ice deposited when supercooled droplets freeze on contact.
80. schadenfreude Pleasure at someone else’s misfortune.
81. selvedge A woven fabric’s finished edge that resists unraveling.
82. sesquipedalian Characterized by the use of long words.
83. sillage The scent trail left by someone’s perfume.
84. snollygoster A shrewd, unprincipled person, especially a politician.
85. solidus The forward slash symbol.
86. spoonerism An accidental swapping of sounds between words.
87. susurrus A soft rustling or whispering sound.
88. tang The blade extension secured inside a tool’s handle.
89. teknonymy Naming parents after their children.
90. thenar The fleshy area at your thumb’s base.
91. thixotropy Becoming less viscous when agitated, then recovering.
92. tittle The dot above a lowercase i or j.
93. tmesis Inserting a word inside another word or phrase.
94. tragus The small cartilage flap before your ear canal.
95. ullage The unfilled space inside a liquid container.
96. ultracrepidarian Someone who gives opinions beyond their expertise.
97. virga Rain that evaporates before reaching the ground.
98. welt A leather strip joining shoe upper and sole.
99. wrack Seaweed and debris washed onto a shore.
100. zeugma One word linking others in different grammatical senses.