NOCTIDIURNAL

[adjective]

comprising a sequence of day and night.

Etymology: from Late Latin nocturnālis, from Latin nox - night + from Late Latin diurnālis, from Latin diurnus, from diēs - day.

[Laurie Lipton]

CONFLAGRATION

[noun]

a destructive fire, usually an extensive one.

Etymology: Latin conflagrātiōn- (stem of conflagrātiō), equivalent to conflagrāt(us) past participle of conflagrāre - to burn up (akin to fulgur - lightning, flamma - flame, Greek phlóx; see phlox).

[Ivan Aivazovsky]

MALEFICIUM

[noun]

Latin: meaning “wrongdoing” or “mischief” and is used to describe malevolent, dangerous, or harmful magic, “evildoing” or “malevolent sorcery”. In general, the term applies to any magical act intended to cause harm or death to people or property.The term appears in several historically important texts, notably the Formicarius, and the Malleus Maleficarum.

[maruhana-bachi]

PHALLOLOGY

[noun]

the scientific study of the penis.

[Paul Rumsey]

GARGOYLE

[noun]

1. a grotesquely carved figure of a human or animal.

2. a spout, terminating in a grotesque representation of a human or animal figure with open mouth, projecting from the gutter of a building for throwing rain water clear of a building.

Etymology: Middle English gargoile < Old French gargouille, gargoule < Latin gurgulio, gula, gargula - gullet or throat.

[jerry8448]

DECIDUOUS

[adjective]

1. shedding the leaves annually, as certain trees and shrubs.

2. falling off or shed at a particular season, stage of growth, etc., as leaves, horns, or teeth.

3. not permanent; transitory.

Etymology: Latin dēciduus - tending to fall, falling.

[Brad Kunkle]

CATHEXIS

[noun]

1. the investment of emotional significance in an activity, object, or idea.

2. the charge of psychic energy so invested.

Etymology: Neo-Latin < Greek káthexis.

[Emek]

REVENANT

[noun]

1. a person who returns.

2. a person who returns, supposedly from the dead.

3. a person who returns as a spirit after death; ghost.

Etymology: from French, ghost, from revenir - to come back, from Latin revenīre, from re- + venīre - to come.

[P J Lynch]

TENTIGINOUS

[adjective]

1. stiff; stretched; strained.

2. lustful, or pertaining to lust; lust provoking.

[John William Waterhouse]

ANATIDAEPHOBIA

[noun]

1. the fear of ducks, swan or geese.

2. Informal: the fear that a duck is watching you.

[Josef Palecek] [requested by itsblitzomg & cantankerousaquarius]

NUNCIUS

[noun]

Roman & Old English Law: a messenger.

Etymology: Latin nūntius.

[Christian Schloe]

STEED

[noun]

a horse, especially a high-spirited one.

Etymology: Middle English stēde, Old English stēda - stallion; akin to stōd. stud.

[Tomasz Alen Kopera]

JIÉRÌ

[noun]

Simplified Chinese: 节日 – festival; festival day.

[Chinese symbols for ‘festival’] [Niken Anindita]

ORNITHOTHROPY

[noun]

1. the professed ability or power of a human being to transform into a bird, or to gain bird-like characteristics.

2. the delusion that one can transform into a bird or that one is a bird.

Etymology: from Ancient Greek ὄρνιθ- (ornith-), the stem of ὄρνις (ornis, “bird”) + άνθρωπος (ànthrōpos “human”).

[Liiga Smilshkalne]

PHILIALGIA

[noun]

Informal: painful love; pain caused from love.

[Daria Endresen]