Here are some of my favourite words.
Some of these words have beautiful spellings. Some of these words are amusing because of the improbability or specificity of their definitions. Some of these words just sound nice. English is an amazing language.
Words highlighted in green are "Rudziczisms", i.e., words invented by members of my family and its relatively recent additions. Some words are functionally extinct and are annotated by their lifetimes.
This page is incomplete.
A—M
abacinate v. To blind by putting a hot copper basin near someone's eyes.
abstrick v. To sneeze. Often used as an interjection, as in Example Abstrick goes Nick.
acetylcholine n. A neurotransmitter with many functions, including increased responsiveness to sensory stimuli.
agraffe v. The wire that holds the cork on a bottle of sparkling white wine.
aposiopesis n. An abrupt ending in the midst of a sentence, as if from an inability or unwillingness to
arachibutyrophobia n. A fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of one's mouth. Etymology arachi-: ground nut.
aspartacus n. (pl.) Asparagus.
bailiwick n. One's sphere (or other 3D shape) of operations.
caffoo n. Coffee.
cheerseh and also shmeerseh inter. A replacement for the salutatory or toast "Cheers!"
circumloquacious adj. Having the quality or qualities of a deliberate modification of word order and syntactic structure by a speaker and/or a writer (id est, the 'interlocutor') that is designed to unnecessarily elongate an utterance with the spoken or unspoken aim of obfuscating the semantic content of that utterance to the extent that it is possible within the confines of the language in which the utterance can be said to belong.
crytoscopophilia n. The urge to look through house windows as one passes by. Example His crytoscopophilia was caused not by his voyeurism, but by his love of windows.
erinaceous adj. Having the qualities of a hedgehog.
feckless adj. Entirely without feck. Ineffective or incompetent.
foof inter. An expression of exasperation or amazement. Example These redwoods are...foof!
frenigerent adj. (1656—1681) Bearing a bridle.
fumificate v. (1721—1792) To make or cause smoke or incense.
goolah n. A girl.
hendiadys n. A compound idea expressed by two words connected by a copulative conjunction, rather than by an adjective and a substantive, as one would normally expect. Origin 1580-90 Medieval latin. Example "The sound and fury" is an example of hendiadys. I would have said "the furious sound."
hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian adj. Pertaining to extremely long words.
hoof 1. v. To hoof, to go for a walk. Example We have to hoof it to the safehouse. 2. n. The act of walking. Example I'm going for a hoof.
ichthyarchy n. (1853—1853) The domain or rule of fishes.
logarithmotechny n. (1724—1775) The art of computing logarithms.
lugubrious adj. Mournful, dismal, or gloomy.
melanochalcographer n. (1697—1697) Engraver of copper printing plates.
mesonoxian adj. Of or related to midnight.
mine strones n. pl. Minestrone.
miniature stronies n. pl. Minestrone.
muliebrity n. The state of being a woman.
myoclonic jerk n. The sudden shudder caused by a sense of falling just as one begins to fall asleep.
myomancy n. A divination by means of mice.
N—Z
nother adj. Entirely different. Example Luke Skywalker: But it's a whole nother year!
octogenarian n. A sentient being aged between 80 and 89 of your 'Earth years'. Example That octogenarian is thoroughly mistreating that octopus.
octopodes n. pl. More than one octopus.
oliofink n. An elephant.
opprobrium n. The disgrace or the reproach incurred by conduct considered outrageously shameful.
ordinator n. A computer. Etymology After French ordinateur. See also ordinate v.: to use a computer.
pasghetties n. pl. Spaghetti.
pericombobulation n. (1987—1987) The state of Samuel Johnson being annoyed. Origin the British TV show Black Adder the Third.
petrichor n. The smell of rain on dry ground.
pfewfers, says I inter. An expression of relief.
properispomenona n. pl. Words having circumflexes on their penultimate syllables.
pugnacious adj. Eager to argue. ExampleMan 1: I came here for an argument; Pugnacious Man: No, you came here for an argument.
pulchritudinous adj. Beautiful. Origin 1910-15 Americanism.
quire n. Two dozen sheets of paper.
recalcitrant adj. Resisting authority or control.
rhombus n. An oblique-angled equilateral parallelogram. n. pl rhombuses, rhombi.
slubberdegullion n. (1530-1611) A slovenly or worthless person.
snackuchon n. A snack. Etymology From Baluchon, a type of cheese.
somnolent adj. inclined to or heavy with sleep. Example These babies are making me somnolent.
them chothers pron. A compound reciprocal third-person pronoun Example They are sharing it with them chothers.
tibialoconcupiscent adj. A lascivious interest in watching a woman putting on stockings.
toasty woasty n. Toast.
turkey shmurkey n. Turkey (the food/bird).
warm-making adj. The quality of food that warms one up on a cold day. Example This split pea soup is warm-making.
xertz v. To gulp down quickly and greedily.
yarborough n. A hand of cards containing no card valued above a nine.
zenzizenzizenzic n. A number raised to the eighth power.
zoanthropy n. The delusion that one has changed into another species of animal.