Quillet: a subtlety in argument;a subtle distinction [Uncertain, poss from L. quidlibet (“anything”)]
Quinquagesima: pertaining to 50 days [from L. quinquaginta (“fifty”)]
Quisquous: hard to deal with; dubious; of people: having a character difficult to assess [from Scot. Eng. from L. quisquis (“whosoever”)]
Quodlibet: a philosophical or theological point proposed for disputation; a whimsical combination of familiar melodies or texts [from L. qui (“what”) + -libet (“it pleases)”]
Quondam: that once was; (a) former [as that grand dame of words Merriam Webster says: “Looking for an unusual and creative way to say “former”?” Quondam (which came to English in the 16th century from Latin quondam, meaning “at one time” or “formerly”) ~ look no further!]
<Word origin and root formation>
Rampallian: a bold, forward, rampant or wanton woman [Elizabethan term, Henry IV Pt II, Act II)
Rasorial: habitually scratching the ground in search of food [from LateLat. rasor (“one that scrapes”) + -ial]
Rasorial
Recusant: refusing staunchly to comply with some generally accepted rule or custom (Orig. Relig.) [from L. re- + causari (“to give a reason”), from causa (“cause”; “reason”)]
Redivivus: restored to life, or to full liveliness; reborn [L. “reused”]
Remiped: (Zool.) having feet that are adaptable as oars [from L. remiped-, remipes (“oar-footed”)] 👣
Remontado: someone who has fled to the mountains or hills and renounced civilisation; a Northern Philippine’s tribesman; go-back (to the wild) [Galician (Sp.). remontado/remontada]
Paleomnesia: good memory for events of the far past [Gk. paleo (“old”; “ancient”) + –mnesia (“memory”)]
Palimony: the division of financial assets and real property on the termination of a personal live-in relationship wherein the parties are not legally married (ie, de facto) [formed from “pal” + “alimony” (coined by celebrity lawyer Marvin Mitchelson)]
Palinoia: the compulsive repetition of an act over and over until perfection is achieved [? + Gk. –noia (“mind”)]
Palladian: pertaining to learning and wisdom [from Gk. Pallás an epithet of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom) + -ian]
Palladian: Pallas Athena
Palpebrate: having eyelids; to wink. [L. palpebra, eyelid]
Paltripolitan: an insular city dweller [blending of “paltry” + -“metropolitan”]
Pancratic: (Hist.) an athletic contest called the pankration; athletic; pertaining to or having ability in all matters [Gk. pankratḗs, [“all-powerful”)]
Pancratic Credit: Midjourney for the Greek Reporter
Pandaculation: involuntary stretching and yawning [L. pandiculatus, from pandiculari (“to stretch oneself”)] 🥱
Pangrammatist: a person who composes verses or sentences using all letters of the alphabet [Gk. pan (“all”) + -grammar + -ist]
Pantophagy: a diet that consists of a large variety of foods; ideally, of all possible foods [from Gk. pant (“all”) + –phagein (“to eat”)]
Paracme: (Medic.) a point beyond the greatest or highest (eg, of a fever); the stage after one’s peak [from Gk. para, (“beyond”) + -akmē, (“highest point”; “prime”)]
Paradiastole: (Rhetoric) a form of euphemism in which a positive synonym is substituted for a negative word; to reframe a vice as a virtue [para + -diastolḗ, (“separation”; “distinction”)]
Paronomasia: word-play of the punning kind; playing upon words which sound alike for comic or clever effect [from para + –onomasía, (“naming”)]
Parorexia: a craving or appetite for unusual foods [from Gk. para + -orexia (“desire”; “appetite”)]
Parorexia (photo: taste.com.au)
Passepartout: a master key; a safe conduct or passport (from Fr. lit. (“passes everywhere”)] 🔑
Passepartout (fictional character)
Peculate: to pilfer or embezzle (money, esp public funds) [L. from peculatus]
Pilgarlic: a pitiful bald-headed man [from “pilled”/“peeled” + “-garlic”]
Pleionosis: the exaggeration of one’s own importance [? + Gk. –osis (“disease”; “process”); “condition”)]
Preterist: (Theo.) a Christian eschatological view or belief that interprets prophecies of the Bible as events which have already been fulfilled in history; a person interested in the past [ from L. praeteritus, (“gone by”) + -ist]
Prevenient: anticipating; preceding in time or order; having foresight; preventing [from L. praeveniens (“precedes”)]
Procerity: tallness; height [from L. pro– (“forward”) + –cerus, from –crescere (“to grow”) + –itas (“-ity”)]
Proctalgia: a severe, episodic pain in the region of the rectum and anus; pain in the arse [Gk. prōktos (“anus”) + –algos (“pain”)] (cf. Rectalgia)
Procumbent: lying or kneeling with face down; prostrate [L. pro + -cumbere (“to lie down”)]
Protogenal: pertaining to primitive creatures [NewLat. protogenes, from L. prot (“first”) + –gen (“birth”)]
Psephologist: someone who studies elections and voting patterns [Gk. psēphos, (“pebble”)]
Neoteny: an indefinite prolongation of the period of immaturity, with the retention of infantile or juvenile qualities, into adulthood [from Gk. néos “young” + -o--O- + -teínein (“to stretch”; “extend”) + -y]
Nepheligenous: producing clouds of smoke [from Gk. nephélē, (“cloud”) + -genous (“producing). Coined by OW Holmes]
Neopotation: prodigality; extravagance; squandering one’s money on riotous living (OU)
Nidifugous: leaving the nest while still young [L.nīdus (“nest”) + –fugiō (“I flee”; “escape”) + -ous]
Nikhedonia: the pleasure and satisfaction derived from the anticipation of success [nik(?) poss. from Nike, Greek god of victory + Gk. –hedonikos (“pleasure”)]
Nikhedonia: Nike on a high
Nimiety: excess; extravagance; surfeit [from L. nimius (“excessive”)]
Nocent: harmful [from L. nocens (“to harm”)]
Noctivagant: wandering by night [from L. nocti- (“night”) + –vagari (“to wander”)] 🌃
Noisome: noxious; smelly; nasty [from MidEng. noy (“annoyance”) + -some, (“characterised by a specified thing,”)]
Nonfeasance: failure to perform some action which ought to have been performed [L. non- + Eng. -feasance (“doing”; “execution”)]
Nostrificate: to accept as one’s own; to grant recognition to a degree (or other formal qualification) from a foreign university (or other registered educational institution) [from L. noster (“our”) + -cate]
Noyade: mass execution by drowning (esp in revolutionary France in Nantes, 1793-94) [from L. necare (“kill without using a weapon”) (nonce word)]
The Noyades of Nantes (image source: Selbymay (CC BY— SA) WHE)
Nugacity: triviality; futility; drollery (cf. nugatory: of no value; trifling; pointless) [from L. nugacitas (“trifling”)]
Nullibiety: the state of being nowhere [from L. nūllus (“none”; “no”; “not any”) + –ibī (“there”) + -ety] (cf. Nullibist: one who denies that the soul exists in physical space)
Numen: pertaining to numina; awe-inspiring; supernatural) [L. nuō + –men (“a nodding with the head”; “command”; “will”)]
Nummamorous: money-loving (cf. Nummary: pertaining to coin) (OU) 💴 🪙
Nutation: the act of nodding the head, esp habitually or constantly; a periodic variation in the inclination of the axis of a rotating object [from L. nūtātiō (“nodding”), from nūtō (“I nod”)]
Nycterent: someone who hunts by night [from Gk. nyct (“night”) + -ent] (cf. Nyctitropic: turning in a certain direction at night) (cf. Nyctalopia: night-blindness)
Nycterent (image: Steam)
Nympholepsy: a passionate longing for something unattainable [from Gk mythology: nymphóleptos (“possessed by nymphs”)]
Key: OU = origin unknown
<word meaning and root formation>
Obsidional or Obsidionary: pertaining to a siege [from L. obsidiō (“siege”; “blockade”)]
Obsidional (source: Medieval art by Marilyn Stokstad)
Obsolagnium: waning sexual desire due to age [from L. ob- (“against”) + lagnium (“desire”)]
Obtund: to blunt, dull or deaden [from L. obtundere (“to dull”, “deaden”, “deafen”)]
Oculogyric: eye-rolling; rotation of the eyes [from L. oculo- (“eye”) + –gyric, from Gk. -gurus (“circle”)]
Oligophagos: eating only a few particular kinds of food [from Gk. olig (“few”) + –phagos (“eating”)]
Ollapod: pharmacist; (Orig. a country apothecary [name of a character in George Colman the Younger‘s comedy The Poor Gentleman (1801)]
Ollapod (source: Wellcome Collection (CC))
Ombrophilous: capable of withstanding heavy and continuous rain [from Gk. ómbros (“rain”) + –philous (“love”)]
Omniety: the state or condition of being all [from L. omnis (“all”) + -iety]
Oneirataxia: inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality [Gk. oneiros (“dream” + –taxis (“arrangement”)]
Onomasticon: an ordered list of names (Orig. a gazetteer of historical and contemporary 4th-century place names in Palestine andTransjordan compiled by Eusebius) [Gk. onomastikós, (“belonging to names”), from onomázō, (“I name”)]
Ophelimity: the ability to please another; economic satisfaction [from Gk. ōphélimos, (“helpful”)]
Opisthenar: back of the hand [from Gk. opistho- (“behind”; “back”) + –thenar (“palm of the hand”)] 🤚
Opsablepria: inability to look someone in the eye (OU) 👁️
Orarian: dweller by the seaside; relating to the seaside [from L. ōrārius (“coasting”; “along the coast”) + -an]
Orthostatic: relating to standing upright; straight posture [Gk. orth (“right angle”; “perpendicular”) + –statikós (“to make stand”)] (cf. Orthobiosis: a hygienic and moral lifestyle)
Osophagist: a fastidious eater [Gk. (?) + –phagos]
Otiose: serving no useful purpose; leisurely (cf. Otiant: idle or resting [from L. otium (“leisure”)]
Ozostomia: evil-smelling breath [from Gk ozóstom(os) (“having bad breath”)]
Labefaction: shaking, weakening and/or downfall; impairment, especially of moral principles or civil order [L. labefactus, labefacere (“to cause to totter”; “shake”) from labare (“to totter”) + -facere (“to make”) + -ion]
Labile: unstable; liable to change [from L. labi, (“to slip or fall”)]
Labrose: thick-lipped [L. labrosus, from labrum (“lip”)] 👄
Laevorotatory or Levorotatory: counter- or anti-clockwise (opp. Dextrorotatory) [L. levo from laevus (“left”) + rotatiō] 🕰️
Lampadedromy: foot race with lighted torches, esp a relay race passing the torch from runner to runner (Anc. Greece: a race in honor of Prometheus in which the contestants ran bearing lit torches, the winner being the first to finish with his torch still lit) [Gk. lampein (“to shine”) + –dromos (“a running”)]
Lampadedromy at the ancient Greek Olympic Games (image. medium.com)
Lamprophony: speaking in a clear loud voice [Gk. lampróphónos (“clear-voiced”) from lamprós (“clear”; “distinct”) + -phone (“sound”) + -y]
Languescent: becoming tired or languid [from L. languescere (“to become faint”)]
Lapidate: stone to death [L. lapidare (“to stone”), from lapid-, lapis (“stone”) + -ate]
Lapidate (v):the punishment of Lapidation
Latebricole: living in holes (OU) 🕳️
Latibulise: to hibernate (OU)
Latifundian: rich in real estate [ L. latus, (“spacious”) + -fundus, (“farm”, (“estate”)] (Latifundium was a large agricultural estate in Ancient Rome)
Lestobiosis: living by furtive stealing; the act of pilfering food, especially of ants 🐜 [Gr. lestes, (“robber”) +–biosis, (“manner of life”)]
Loganamnosis: a mania for trying to recall a forgotten word or words [Gk. log (“word”) + -amnosis (?) perhaps from –amnesia (“memory”)]
Lucifugous: avoiding daylight or light altogether [ from L. lucifugus, from luci- + -fugus (from fugere (“to flee”)+ -al +-ous]
Lucripetous: money-hungry (OU) 💰
Luctiferous: sad and sorry [L. luctifer (“mournful”) from luctus (“sorrow”) + -fer (-ferous) + –ous]
Ludification: derision; mockery [from L. ludificatio, from ludificare (“to make sport of”), from ludus (“sport”) + -ficare (“to make”, in comparative)]
Lurdane: stupid, dull and lazy; a sluggard [MidFr.lourdin (“dullard”), from lourd (“heavy”)]
Lypophrenia: a vague feeling of sadness, seemingly without cause [OU. ? + Gk. –phrenia (“mind”)]
