Pronunciation: /ˈvɛl.ɪ.kɔr/ Part of speech: noun Definition: The strange, bittersweet wistfulness that washes over you inside a used bookstore, stirred by thousands of old books each locked in their own era and full of lives you will never quite reach. Etymology: *Vellichor* is a 21st-century neologism coined by writer John Koenig for his project The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, first circulating widely online around 2013. It blends *vellum* (the fine parchment historically used for manuscripts, from Latin *vitulinum*, meaning "calf-skin") with *ichor*, the golden fluid said to flow through the veins of the gods in Greek mythology. The construction was almost certainly inspired by *petrichor* (1964), the word for the scent of rain on dry earth, which similarly pairs a material prefix with *ichor* to evoke something elemental and half-divine. Synonyms: nostalgia, wistfulness, reverie, longing, hiraeth, saudade In a sentence: She had only meant to browse for five minutes, but the vellichor of the cramped little shop held her there for an hour, pulling one forgotten paperback after another from the shelf.