Pronunciation: /ˈvɛl.ɪ.kɔːr/ Part of speech: noun Definition: The strange, wistful nostalgia one feels inside a used bookstore, surrounded by aging volumes that carry the faint traces of vanished readers and forgotten lives. Etymology: *Vellichor* is a 21st-century neologism coined by writer John Koenig for his project *The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows*, first circulated online in 2013. <cite index="9-1">It combines the Latin *vellus* (meaning "fleece," evoking the soft texture of aged parchment and vellum) with *ichor*, the ethereal fluid said to flow in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology.</cite> <cite index="8-1">The word *petrichor* (coined in 1964 from *ichor* and the Greek *petros*, meaning "stone") is likely a structural inspiration, with the first element replaced by a nod to vellum.</cite> Synonyms: hiraeth, nostalgia, saudade, reverie, wistfulness, melancholy In a sentence: She barely moved for an hour, drifting down each aisle of the cramped shop in a fog of vellichor_, half-reading dedications scrawled in strangers' handwriting.