Words from the Heart: An Emotional Dictionary by Susie Dent

Words from the Heart: An Emotional Dictionary is written by Susie Dent. Presented as a dictionary of emotional language, it brings together terms designed to help pinpoint how you feel.

Key details

• Author: Susie Dent
• Dictionary-style book focused on emotional vocabulary
• Includes 1001 terms
• Explores words for specific feelings and reactions, including AGE-OTORI, GROAKING, CONFELICITY and CURGLAFF
• Features entries such as CWTCH, LALOCHEZIA and PERTOLERANCE

Synopsis

This collection introduces words for experiences that can be difficult to express, from the distress of a bad haircut to longing for someone else’s food, pleasure in other people’s happiness, and the shock of jumping into icy water. Across 1001 terms, it highlights language for everyday emotions and reactions, including the best kind of hug, the relief found in swearing, and the ability to endure until the end.

Alongside the definitions, the book revisits overlooked positives in language and shares the origins behind selected words, including how a stork contributed a term for the love between parent and child, and the story of the first “maverick”. Described as a “truly human dictionary”, it is presented as idiosyncratic and unusual in spirit.