75 Weird Words Every Word Nerd Will Appreciate

Xertz — (v) to gulp down quickly and greedily

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Weird Words

Some of these words sound funny when you say them out loud, and others are just strange to look at on the page or screen. What these weird words all have in common is that they’re odd in some way or another—and they’re all totally worth adding to your vocabulary.

Agastopia — (n) admiration of a particular part of someone’s body

Argle-bargle — (adj) copious but meaningless talk or writing

Bibble — (v) to drink often; to eat and/or drink noisily

Billingsgate — (n) coarsely abusive language

Blatherskite — (n) a person who talks at great length without making much sense

Bobsy-die — (n) a great deal of fuss or trouble

Borborygmus — (n) a rumbling or gurgling noise in the intestines

Bumfuzzle — (adj) confused, perplexed

Cabotage — (n) coastal navigation; the exclusive right of a country to control the air traffic within its borders

Cacophony — (n) a harsh, discordant mixture of sounds

Cattywampus — (adj) askew

Collywobbles — (n) a bellyache

Conjubilant — (adj) shouting together with joy

Curmudgeon — (n) a bad-tempered person

Doodle Sack — (n) Old English word for bagpipe

Discombobulate — (v) to disconcert of confuse

Deipnophobia — (n) a morbid fear of dinner parties

Dipthong — (n) two vowel sounds joined in one syllable to form one speech sound, e.g. the sounds of “ou” in out and of “oy” in boy

Donkey Engine — (n) a small auxiliary engine on a ship

Dragoman — (n) an interpreter or professional guide for travelers

Erf — (n) a plot of land

Erinaceous — (adj) of, pertaining to, or resembling a hedgehog

Finifugal — (adj) afraid of finishing anything

Fipple — (n) the mouthpiece of a recorder or similar wind instrument

Firman — (n) in Turkey and some other Oriental countries, a decree or mandate issued by the sovereign

Flummox — (v) to perplex someone greatly

Frankenfood — (n) genetically modified food

Fudgel — (v) Pretending to work when you’re not actually doing anything at all

Funambulist — (n) a tightrope walker

Futz — (v) to waste time or busy oneself aimlessly

Gabelle — (n) a tax on salt

Gardyloo — used in Edinburgh as a warning cry when it was customary to throw slops from the windows into the streets

Gibberish — (n) unintelligible or meaningless speech

Gobbledygook — (n) language that is meaningless

Groke — (v) an old Scots term meaning to look at somebody while they’re eating in the hope that they’ll give you some of their food

Grommet — (n) an eyelet of firm material to strengthen or protect an opening or to insulate or protect something passed through it

Gubbins — (n) fish parings or refuse

Halfpace — (n) a platform of a staircase where the stair turns back in exactly the reverse direction of the lower flight

Hullaballoo — (n) a commotion

Ill-willie — (adj) having an unfriendly disposition

Impignorate — (v) to pawn or mortgage something

Jentacular — (adj) pertaining to breakfast

Kakorrhaphiophobia — (n) fear of failure

Kerfuffle — (n) a commotion or fuss

Lackadaisical — (adj) lacking enthusiasm or determination

Lamprophony — (n) loudness and clarity of enunciation

Lollygag — (v) to spend time aimlessly

Macrosmatic — (adj) having a good sense of smell

Meldrop — (n) A drop of mucus at the nose, whether produced by cold or otherwise

Nudiustertian — (n) the day before yesterday

Obelus — (n) the symbol ÷

Octothorpe — (n) the symbol #

Oxter — (n) outdated word meaning “armpit”

Pauciloquent — (adj) uttering few words; brief in speech

Poppycock — (n) nonsense

Quire — (n) two dozen sheets of paper

Quomodocunquizing —  (v) making money in any way that you can

Ragamuffin — (n) a person, typically a child, in ragged dirty clothes

Ratoon — (n) a small shoot growing from the root of a plant

Salopettes — (n) high-waisted skiing pants with shoulder straps

Smicker — (v) to look amorously after somebody

Snickersnee — (v) to engage in cut-and-thrust fighting with knives

Sprunt — (v) an old Scottish word meaning to chase girls around among the haystacks after dark

Taradiddle — (n) pretentious nonsense

Tittynope — (n) a small quantity of something left over

Ulotrichous — (adj) having wooly or crispy hair

Valetudinarian — (n) a sickly or weak person, especially one who is constantly and morbidly concerned with his or her health

Whiffler — (n) somebody who walks in front of you through a crowd

Whippersnapper — (n) a young person considered to be presumptuous or overconfident

Widdershins — (adj) adin a left-handed or contrary direction; counterclockwise

Woebegone — (adj) sad or miserable in appearance

Winklepicker — (n) style of shoe or boot in the 1950s with a sharp and long pointed toe

Xertz — (v) to gulp down quickly and greedily

Yarborough — (n) hand of cards containing no card above a nine

Zoanthropy — (n) delusion of a person who believes himself changed into an animal