belwether

a person or thing which identifies a trend or leads in a direction

| origin: a castrated male sheep, called a wether, given a small bell to wear, used to be used to help lead a flock of sheep

gardyloo

a warning cry, not unlike ‘heads up’

| origin: scotland; used to alert people prior to throwing the privy water out the window on to the street

absquatulate

abruptly depart

| origin: mix of abscond, squattle (squat down), and perambulate

concinnity

the skillful and harmonious arrangement or fitting together of the different parts of something; studied elegance of literary or artistic style

| origin: Lat. concinnitas > concinnus ‘skillfully put together’

eurhythmic

in or relating to harmonious proportion

| origin: Greek

limerence

the state of being obsessively infatuated with someone, though not with sexual intentions, and the desire to have those feelings reciprocated

| origin: English, 1970s, coined by phychologist Dorothy Tennov

bombinate

to make a humming or buzzing noise

| origin: Latin, bombus = humming

petrichor

the pleasant, earthy smell after rain

| origin: English, 1960s, blend of petro (related to rocks/stones) and ichor (the blood of the gods)

mudita

taking delight in the happiness of others; the opposite of schadenfreude

| origin: sanskrit

hiraeth

the intense longing for a home one cannot reach

| origin: from proto-Celtic sir-axto, akin to Gallish siraxta; no English equivalent and no direct translation

eucatastrophe

sudden, favourable resolution of a story; a happy ending

| origin: English, mid-20th century; probably coined by Tolkien

so far today