Pronunciation: /ˈvɛl.ɪ.kɔr/ Part of speech: noun Definition: The strange wistfulness that washes over you inside a used bookstore, a feeling that the shelves are somehow soaked in time itself. Etymology: *Vellichor* is a 21st-century neologism coined by writer John Koenig for his project *The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows*, published in full by Simon & Schuster in 2021. <cite index="10-1,10-2">Koenig built the word by combining the Latin *vellus* (meaning "fleece," evoking something soft and comforting) with the Greek *ichor* (the divine fluid said to flow through the veins of the gods in Greek mythology).</cite> <cite index="4-1">The *ichor* root had already been used in 1964 to form *petrichor* (the scent of rain on dry earth), and *vellichor* follow that same pattern, swapping the Greek *petros* (stone) prefix for *vellum* (the aged writing material).</cite> Synonyms: nostalgia, wistfulness, melancholy, reverie, saudade, hiraeth In a sentence: The moment she crossed the threshold of the cramped little shop on Elm Street, a deep vellichor_ settled over her, as though every cracked spine on every shelf held a ghost still mid-sentence.