​SITE NAVIGATION
​Website - About Site | What’s New? | Feedback | Help
Contact - Email | Twitter | Credit & References
View My Writing Portfolio at www.bykairos.com ​MAIN DIRECTORY TREE MAIN WORD LISTS BY TOPIC
​ ​Beauty of Language & Words - Sitemap | Featured ​The Universe and the World We Live In People, Places and Things​ - Featured Igniting the Flame of Creative Flow ​
VOCABULARY BOOKS TO VIEW OR DOWNLOAD
A Series of Beautiful Words - Books, Blogs and Beautiful Words. Download my vocabulary books or view the content online
​DOWNLOAD BOOKS | VIEW BOOKS ONLINE

MY WORD POSTS - Posting under @kairosoflife
​SEARCH WORDS BELOW or use ADVANCED SEARCH to search this site and content of my vocabulary books
FULL INDEX SITEMAP | INDEX OF TOPIC SITEMAPS

ALL SITEMAPS

There are a few sitemaps that help guide you through large collections or collections of related word lists that cross categories.
​
FULL SITE INDEX
WORDS, LINGUISTICS AND WRITING
LANGUAGES AND WORDS OF THE WORLD
THE WORDS OF LOVE AND ROMANCE
THE WEIRD, UNUSUAL WORDS OF OBSCURITY
SLANG, CURSES & INSULTS

Where Do the Words Come From?

learn how I find words and
why I choose them
​

Where do I find all these words? I search the Internet dictionaries, thesauri, word lists, and vocabulary resources but most of my words are found through other logophiles like myself. We are a huge community of word lovers who share our vast collections to discover new words, inspire definition discussion, trace etymology and try to resurrect the archaic words which have been lost over the centuries, I have been a logophile since I learned to read. I received my first dictionary at age 4 and still have it today!

I choose the word of the day based on several factors.
  • Some I find just beautiful, haunting, or attractive. Like the word “ethereal” which is something extremely delicate, light, and not of this world.
  • Some are meaningful to me but most are meaningful to my readers. I read your tweets on Twitter and like to find words that would appeal to you based on your content. Maybe you have experienced ”monochopsis.” It is the subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place. We have all felt this.
  • ​Some are terms that describe someone, something or somewhere. For example, a “logophile” is a person who loves words. A “deipnosophist”is a person who is the best conversationalist at the table.
  • Others are so quirky and fun - these may be new words (what are known as neologisms) and may or may not be in the dictionary. Some may never end up in the dictionary due (words have to be accepted) but they are still used by people. For example, an “askhole” is: someone who asks too many stupid or obnoxious questions.
  • Many words are obscure, rare, obsolete or archaic and I like these the most because you probably have never heard them before. Like for instance, a lanspresado. This is someone who always shows up for a meal or an event without any money to pay for himself! It’s a an obsolete word for moocher from the 17th century.
  • Some are great because they describe feelings or situations that we all experience but didn’t know that there was an actual word for it! For example we all have the urge to curse - that’s called “coprolalia.”
  • And I post untranslatable words. These are words from foreign languages that do not translate into English. We don’t have an equivalent word. For example, ”sobremesa” is the moment after eating when the food is gone but the conversation is still flowing at the table.
  • Finally I post words from around the world. I especially like Greek and Latin words and of course French, Spanish and Italian words. The Japanese and Tagalog languages have beautiful words as well. Like ”kilig” from the Philippines - it refers to the thrilling feeling of butterflies in your stomach when you are attracted to someone.
This site is a part of
A SERIES OF BEAUTIFUL WORDS BY KAI
The Collection Includes:
Defining the Brain: Website | Downloads (science)
A Beautiful Word: Website | Downloads (rare/obscure)
The Logophile Lexicon: Website | Book (literary)
Defining New Ideas: Website | Book (creativity)

Author Homepage: Bookshelf by Kairos
​Words posted by @kairosoflife on Twitter under the hashtag #beautifulwords and on my vocabulary bulletin boards on Pinterest - Submit Feedback
Original content ​© 2020 Copyright, Kairos.