nouns – Page 16 of 29

Persons, places, things...you know the drill.

rhopalic

rhopalic /rə-PAL-ik/. noun or adjective. A sequence in which each word has one more letter or syllable than the one before it. From Latin rhopalicus > from Greek rhopalos (a tapered club).
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intromission

intromission /in-troh-MISH-ən/. noun. Generally, the act of introducing, inserting or entering. Specifically, the very first moment of sexual intercourse. In (Scots) law, to assume the authority to deal with another’s property either with permission (legal intromission) or without (vicious intermission). From Latin intrō (inward) + missum (to send). ¶ See also: adosculation (impregnation by external contact, sans intromission) of which the 1753 Chambers Cyclopedia notes, “divers kinds of birds and fishes are also impregnated by adosculation.” Also?
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litost

litost /LEE-tohst/. noun. A Czech word defined by Milan Kundera as “a state of torment caused by a sudden insight into one’s own miserable self,” sometimes accompanied by a desire for revenge…to make another share in the suffering.
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misprision

misprision /mis-PRIZH-ən/. noun. Misconduct or neglect of duty by a public official. Rarely, legally, the concealing of—or failing to prevent—treason or a felony committed by someone else. More generally, a mistake. Also a term used by literary critic Harold Bloom to describe strong writers who misread or misinterpret their influences and forebears in order to create a creative space for themselves. From Old French mesprision (error); from Latin prendre (take).
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prosopagnosia

prosopagnosia /praws-ə-pag-NOH-zhyə/. noun. An inability to recognize familiar, or what should be well-known, faces. Commonly(ish) known as “face blindness.” From Greek prosōpon (face) + a (without) + gnōsis(knowledge).
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seraglio

seraglio /se-RAHL-yoh/. noun. An enclosure used for confinement, most often for a harem or polygamous unit. For Muslim nobles, the rooms or apartments reserved for wives and concubines. Or the harem itself. Sometimes, more generally, a Muslim noble house or palace as a whole. Sometimes, more generally, a brothel. From Italian serraglio(an enclosure or animal cage), from Latin sera (door bar), related to Turkish seray(palace).
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catafalque

catafalque /KAT-ə-fahlk/. noun. A temporary platform or tomb on which a body is laid in state for a funeral and/or procession. In Roman Catholic funerals, a coffin-shaped object draped with a pall, representing the corpse. From Italian catafalco (same meaning), from Greek kata (down or beside) + fala (scaffolding, or a wooden tower). The Medieval Latin use led to the French chafaud and échafaud (scaffold).
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