Name: Beautiful new words to describe obscure emotions
Uploaded: 2017-03-10T16:01:47Z
Duration: 7 min 18 s
Description: John Koenig loves finding words that express our unarticulated feelings -- like "lachesism," the hunger for disaster, and "sonder," the realization that everyone else's lives are as complex and unknowable as our own. Here, he meditates on the meaning we assign to words and how these meanings latch onto us.

John Koenig: Beautiful new words to describe obscure emotions

Beautiful new words to describe obscure emotions

John Koenig loves finding words that express our unarticulated feelings -- like "lachesism," the hunger for disaster, and "sonder," the realization that everyone else's lives are as complex and unknowable as our own. Here, he meditates on the meaning we assign to words and how these meanings latch onto us.

Language is full of gaps, especially around the emotions and experiences people struggle to name. Invented terms like "sonder"—the realization that everyone else has a complex inner life—often fill these gaps and catch on because they resonate deeply. Words gain meaning not from their origins, but from collective use and shared understanding. Ultimately, it is people who give words power, not the other way around.