List of Words in Infinite Jest That I Didn’t Know
Part of what makes reading Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace fun as an intellectual exercise is his use of obscure language. Historically I tended to simply skip past the words that I didn’t know, but that seemed somehow unsatisfying, so during my most recent reading I tried to mark all the words I couldn’t immediately define. Here now is that list of words.
When a word has an ascertainable definition, the word has been linked to it. When the word has no clear definition, either because it’s too obscure or it’s a neologism (or a fauxlogism), I’ve left it unlinked. Feel free to hypothesize as to the meanings of these words. I did not include multiple variations on the same root, as long as the second or third word’s definition would have been fairly obvious from the definition of the first. Words that I think were spelled incorrectly are marked as typos.
Pages 1 to 99:
- wen, kekuléan, lapidary, mimetic, presbyopic, ideogram, creatus, cirri, pases, enfilade, espadrilles, barnwood, hypophalangial, etiology, pleurisy, caries, prescriptive, assignations, anaplastic, lyrologist, apposite, nonpareil, febrile, anfractuous, pylacteryish, benighted, élan, kismet, apocopes, meatus, pertussives, megaspansules, dipsomania, neuralgia, neoplastis, lachrymose, concupiscence, recondite, mordantly, feck, festschrift, chiaroscuro, agaric, synesthesia, deliquesce, hypocapnia, plangent, circumorals, thigmotactic, synclinal, leptosomatic, quincunx, calliopsis, plosivity, diagnate, pedentive, amaneunsis (typo: amanuensis?), uremic, pedalferrous, fulvous, quiescent, digitate, suppliants, atavistically, piebald
Pages 100 to 199:
- extant, aperçu, osseously, homuncular, verisimilitude, éclat, swinishest, fingerling, aether, bafflegab, formants, fricatives, trochaically, formication, limned, facies, acromegalic, hyperkeratosistic, enuretic, torticollic, transuranial, treillage, sulci, abducent, gyrus, sulcus, serodermatotic, tabescent, chachetic, steatocryptotic, scofulodermic, steatopygiacs, subhadronics, leukodermatic, xanthodantic, pyorrheic, peronic, teratoidal, aceryulus, diaphoretic, granulomatous, lazarettes, oubliettes, kyphotic, lordotic, pulchritudinous, Actaeonizing, papuled, ergotic, varicelliformally, lycanthropically, mansard
Pages 200 to 299:
- mesomorphic, arpeggio, gonfalonish, mucronate, frustum, entrepôt, otiose, greatcoat, tumbrel, imprecated, carbuncular, scopophobic, tesseract, labile, scopophiliacal, blinis, tartines, aioli, strettoing, acclivated, propitiate, apotropaic, lacuna, paroxysmic, coccyges, jonquil, cruciform, egregulous, nystagmic, deafflatusized, sedulous, anthracnose, sinecure, phylogenic, apical, attar, strabismic, cathedran
Pages 300 to 399:
- neurasthenic, dysphoric, bilirubin, tumid, verbiform, saluki, jerkin, blepharoplasty, mucronate, bradyphrenic, epistemically, saguaro, bradyauxetic, dysautonomically, bradypedestrianism-wise, lordosis, rectilinear, homodontic, tangrams, eidetic, frisson, thanatoptic (typo: thanatotic?), solander, peritonitis, prognathous, onanism, apothegm, apicals, caparison, cunctations, aphasiac, etiology, breviary, toque, aigrette, agnation, effluvia, adipose, jejune, enjambment, halcyon, purled, glabrous, assuasive, hagiography, pruritis, calotte, convolved
Pages 400 to 499:
- saprogenic, brillantined, catastatic, avuncular, mycological, redemisement, cuirass, miasma, votaried, suppurating, orts, nacreous, picric, morendo, hinked, ablative, twiny, tympanum, woppsed, aphonia, aphrasiac, inguinal
Pages 500 to 599:
- catalepsy, anhedonia, astrolabes, prickets, styptic, escutcheon, insouciant, tulle, micological (typo: mycological), brisance, reseau, twidgelling, cathexis, cathected, esters, chuff, insousistent, skirling, crepuscular, threnody, coprolite, kalpacs, acclivity, intaglioed, anomic
Pages 600 to 699:
- adtorsion, imprecating, coprolaliac, sylvan, appurtenances, swart, ruscant, stelliform, connubial, saltire, colposcope, patellar, chyme, baroquoco (portmanteau of baroque and rococo?), pericardium, thected, jape, dross, vermiform, raglan, fictile, involutional
Pages 700 to 799:
- emetics, hanuman, novenas, sacristy, matins, vespers, catexic, sloe, verger, lapsarian, veronica, alacrity, sybaritically, agnate, basso, blancmange, varicoceles, swotting, maundering, mendaciously, restenosis, instantiation, lalating, parturient, synecdoche, olla, podrida, antinomically, gneiss, quoins, lintel, balsamy
Pages 800 to 899:
- pizzicato, civety, perfidy, imago, strigil, acciaccatura, alembic, latrodectus, mactans, proprioception, testudo, bricolage, catalept, laertes, chronaxy, luculus, cerise, heliated, pleuritic, effulgence, brocaded, hulpil, huarache, guilloche, parotitic, liebestod, ommatophoric, synovial, ectopic, anipyretic (typo: antipyretic?)
Pages 900 to 999:
- phocomelic, achondroplastic, enervated, neurasthenia, porcine, teleologic, clinamen, tessera, kenosis, askesis, prenominate, mellitus, lisle, siphuncular, inspissated, hemoptysis, ursine, fillip, gloaming, imprimatur, catadioptric, epicene, mimesis, sinciput, filigrees, finial, gambrel, étagère, delfts, hyperemic, seraglio, kyphotic, weal, piaffer, ciquatoxic (typo: ciguatoxic?), ataxia, fuliginous
Pages 1000 to 1079
- redolent, quotidian, aprick, wakked, unperspicuous, xerophagy, ainsi, breviary, jaspers, solecistic, ascapartic, anapestic, bradylexia, bradyphenia, bradypnea, bradykinesia, gerontologic, hyperauxetic, parp, sallet, calpac, harquebus, escudo, shako, neurosomatic, angiomas, rhinorrhagia, blepharospecticity, ballism, hemispasms, phosphenism, sociosis, rhinophyma, phasece, delirium tremen, traversion, voluble, anaclitic, aspic, tittle, catachresis, vishnu, epithetic, creosote, communate, palliative, funiculi, gonions, uncolloped, latissimal, armamentarium, nictitater, sudoriferous, joss
If your vocabulary is larger than mine, now would be a prime opportunity to mock me.
If you’re curious about the context of any words, Amazon has the entire book online and you can search for the desired word.
Yes, this took longer than I thought it would.
March 30th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
It turns out that I didn’t really know the real definition of redolent. Most people seem to use it metaphorically, so I suppose I assumed it meant “full” or “consists” as in the common phrase “redolent of corruption.”
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July 20th, 2008 at 2:52 am
Amazon has the entire book online
Of course not, just the first five pages.
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DoorFrame Reply:
July 20th, 2008 at 9:14 am
No, they have the entire book. Follow the link above and search for a word. For example, if you search for the word “hearty” it will tell you that the word appears on pages 48, 121 and 895. You can then click on any of those page numbers and be brought to that particular page.
Amazon doesn’t allow you to skim the pages in order straight through the book for somewhat self-evident reasons, but it does have the entire book online and available.
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November 20th, 2008 at 6:30 am
Good work. Going in for the re-read and this list has helped. ‘Ascapartic’ comes from a giant named ‘Ascapart’ in an old mythological story. I forget the details – but suffice to say someone with ascapartic attributes should be considered large indeed. ‘Epicene’ can be found on dictionary.com. ‘Verbiform’ and ‘Egregulous’ i would like to know the definition of. Someone must have the unabridged and/or discursive OED. DFW certainly did. In his head.
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Troeltsch Reply:
November 20th, 2008 at 11:39 am
the wallace-l re-read?
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November 20th, 2008 at 6:34 am
Also, i just saw ‘Actaeonizing’ doesn’t have a link. Type ‘Actaeon’ in dictionary.com and all will become clear w/r/t describing the P.G.O.A.T as such.
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November 20th, 2008 at 6:42 am
RE: p1-99 ‘hypophalangial’ should, i think, be considered a typo. He mentions the word ‘pituitary’ pretty close to this word.
‘A ‘Hypothalamic dysfunction’ is a problem with the region of the brain called the hypothalamus, which helps control the pituitary gland and regulate many body functions.’
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November 21st, 2008 at 9:19 am
RE: Troeltsch.
Is that a question? Is it to me?
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November 21st, 2008 at 11:20 am
yes and yes. If you don’t understand, the answer is likely no, so here’s an explanation: there is a d-list called “wallace-l” that is currently engaged in a group read of IJ. This is something like the 3rd or 4th such group read, and was initiated in response to his suicide. If you’re interested in DFW, and have not joined wallace-l, you may wish to. check out http://waste.org/mail/?list=wallace-l for details and archives.
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November 21st, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Wow. You didn’t know Kismet?
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November 21st, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Troeltsch, if you’re trying to explain something, it’s best not to use phrases like “d-list” which aren’t immediately understandable.
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November 21st, 2008 at 4:01 pm
hence the web site. sheesh. RTFM or GTFO.
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December 19th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Love this page. Wish I had thought the look for it 500 pages or so ago. While I generally make an attempt to look up unknown words as I read, there is already enough going on when reading this book…
Anyway, thanks for the page. Looking forward to coming here as I continue to trudge through the remaining 500 pages.
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December 19th, 2008 at 11:32 am
There is also a reference in the book to someone (maybe Orin) liking big girls. Hal uses the a word with the root “Rubens-” to describe this infatuation. I know I am not presenting this all that well — but for those who remember or still follow; Rubens was a 17th century Flemish painter who married a very young and chubby (voluptuous) girl (woman?) who inspired his later paintings of women to be likewise chubby. Just thought that was a fun little tidbit (i almost wrote titbit… that’s where my mind is).
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December 20th, 2008 at 6:38 am
If he used a word other than Rubenesque – what was the word?
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December 23rd, 2008 at 8:35 am
No, it was “Rubenesque.” I assume it did not make the list because you already knew it? I guess I should have gotten a liberal arts education.
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January 5th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Here’s another typo word from 1-99: “and also an obscenity he had assumed was directed at him magisculed in red grease pencil” — I believe “majusculed” (capitalized) is the word, although I don’t have access to OED to check.
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January 28th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Phylacteryish was also one that caught my eye. It’s one of DFW’s neologisms, but turns out it comes from the noun ‘phylactery’ which describes the leather boxes worn, via straps, on the arm and head by Jewish men during certain prayer services. He just turned it into an adjective by adding the suffix ‘-ish’ it seems.
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January 28th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Kottke missed you in this list (which is a pretty good resource and goes beyond IJ):
http://www.kottke.org/09/01/the-words-of-david-foster-wallace
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February 4th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
re: p. 1-99, hypophalangeal. Could it mean “small fingered”, or “Small footed”?
hypo< Gk, comb. form of hypó under (prep.), below (adv.)
plalangeal: of or pertaining to a phalynx.
Phalynx: Anatomy, Zoology. any of the bones of the fingers or toes.
Or, he could be emasculating this person? as in “Big feet, big meat” thus its logical opposite, “Small feet, small meat”?
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July 6th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Liebestod is german for “love death” in a literal sense (Tod being death, Liebes meaning love.) Examples of stories that have a Liebestod-like ending are Tristan und Isolde (their dying in each others arms, not being able to be truly together but in death.) and Romeo and Juliet.
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September 7th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
No doubt hulpil should be huilpil or hipil, a tunic/dress jobby worn in Mexico and other parts of Central America.
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October 27th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Rubensian is used for Rubenesque. possibly more accurate as the artist’s name was Rubens, not Ruben.
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