The words
1. Apricity
The warmth of the sun in winter. Recorded in Henry Cockeram's 1623 dictionary and then barely used again, which is baffling, because the thing itself happens every January and deserves its name back.
2. Respair
Fresh hope after despair; a 15th-century word that appears a handful of times and then vanishes. That English kept despair and dropped its antidote tells you something about English.
3. Overmorrow
The day after tomorrow. German kept its version (übermorgen); English made us say five words where one worked.
4. Uhtceare
Old English for lying awake worrying before dawn, from uht, the hour before sunrise, and cearu, care. It survives in the Anglo-Saxon poem known as The Wife's Lament, and in everyone's 4 a.m.
5. Mumpsimus
A person who persists in an error after being corrected, from a 16th-century story about a priest who misread the Latin sumpsimus for decades and refused to change because "his mumpsimus" had served him thirty years. Every office has one.
6. Ultracrepidarian
One who opines beyond their expertise. Popularized by the critic William Hazlitt in 1819, from the Latin tale of a cobbler who critiqued a painting's sandal, was thanked, and kept going. The internet's patron word.
7. Snollygoster
Nineteenth-century American: a shrewd, unprincipled person, especially a politician. President Truman reportedly enjoyed using it, and it remains ready for service.
8. Balter
To dance clumsily but with enthusiasm. Attested from the Middle English period, and the only honest description of most dancing.
9. Crapulous
Relating to the aftermath of eating or drinking too much, from the Latin crapula. A precise, dignified word for an undignified state.
10. Scurryfunge
Dialect (recorded in New England collections): the frantic tidying performed between spotting a guest coming up the walk and their knock on the door.
11. Twitter-light
A 17th-century word for twilight. It lost, twilight won, and then the 21st century ruined the loser retroactively. We include it as a cautionary tale.
12. Eucatastrophe
The sudden turn from disaster to joy; coined by J. R. R. Tolkien in a 1944 letter for the moment the eagles arrive. The youngest word here, and already slipping away, which is exactly the fate it names.
Why bother reviving them
A word is a noticing that someone bothered to keep. Lose apricity and winter sun still warms your face, but nobody points at it. We liked this idea enough to build a book on it: 365 Days of Forgotten Words rescues one lost word a day for a year (★4.8 across 35 Amazon ratings, our best-rated title). Word people are also disproportionately book-gift people; our book gift guide and calming gift books both make room for them.
Common questions
Are these real words?
Yes. Each appears in historical dictionaries, dialect collections, or attested texts, from Cockeram's 1623 dictionary (apricity) to Tolkien's letters (eucatastrophe). None are internet inventions.
Why did English lose words like overmorrow?
Usage, not merit. Words survive by being used in print and speech; when fashion moves, even useful words starve. German kept übermorgen while English let overmorrow go.
Can I actually use these in writing?
The best revival strategy is casual confidence: use the word, let context carry it, and resist the urge to footnote yourself. Apricity, overmorrow, and balter need no apology.
What is 365 Days of Forgotten Words?
Our daily reader that rescues one obscure, lovely English word per day for a year, with its history and a reason to keep it. One page, five minutes.