Here are 30 ‘lost’ English words you may find useful. Check how many of them you know

English language experts have made a list of 30 lost words. Read on to find out how you can use them.

Experts have drawn up a list of 30 words that have gradually disappeared from the English language and said the “lost” words remained relevant to modern life.

Experts have drawn up a list of 30 words that have gradually disappeared from the English language.(Shutterstock)

Dominic Watt, senior linguistics lecturer at the University of York, said he hoped people would re-engage with the language of old, according to a BBC report.

“As professional linguists and historians of English, we were intrigued by the challenge of developing a list of lost words that are still relevant to modern life, and that we could potentially campaign to bring back into modern day language,” Watt was quoted as saying by The York Press.

The list was created by a team that spent three months looking through old texts and dictionaries. They grouped the words within the following themes: post-truth, appearance, personality and behaviour, and emotions.

“To allow people to really imagine introducing these words back into their everyday lives, we’ve chosen words that fit within themes still relevant to the average person. Within these themes, we’ve identified lost words that are both interesting and thought-provoking, in the hope of helping people re-engage with language of old,” Watt said.

Here is the full list of “lost” words that the researchers think people may find useful:

Ambodexter, n: One who takes bribes from both sides

Betrump, v: To deceive, cheat; to elude, slip from

Coney-catch b, v: To swindle, cheat; to trick, dupe, deceive

Hugger-mugger, n., adj., and adv: Concealment, secrecy; esp. in phr. in hugger-mugger: in secret, secretly, clandestinely. Formerly in ordinary literary use, now archaic or vulgar

Nickum, n.: A cheating or dishonest person

Quacksalver, n: A person who dishonestly claims knowledge of or skill in medicine; a pedlar of false cures

Rouker, n.: A person who whispers or murmurs; one who spreads tales or rumours

Man-millinery, adj: Suggestive of male vanity or pomposity

Parget, v: To daub or plaster (the face or body) with powder or paint; to cover with cosmetic

Snout-fair, adj.: Having a fair countenance; fair-faced, comely, handsome

Slug-a-bed, n: One who lies long in bed through laziness

Losenger, n.: A false flatterer, a lying rascal, a deceiver

Momist, n: A person who habitually finds fault; a harsh critic

Peacockize, v.: To behave like a peacock; esp. to pose or strut ostentatiously

Percher, n.: A person who aspires to a higher rank or status; an ambitious or self-assertive person

Rouzy-bouzy, adj.: Boisterously drunk

Ruff, v: To swagger, bluster, domineer. To ruff it out / to brag or boast of a thing

Sillytonian, n.: A silly or gullible person, esp. one considered as belonging to a notional sect of such people

Wlonk, adj + n (also ‘wlonkness’) Proud, haughty / Rich, splendid, fine, magnificent: in later use esp. as a conventional epithet in alliterative verse (N. A fair or beautiful one)

Fumish, adj: Inclined to fume, hot-tempered, irascible, passionate; also, characterized by or exhibiting anger or irascibility

Awhape, v. To amaze, stupefy with fear, confound utterly

Hugge, v. To shudder, shrink, shiver, or shake with fear or with cold

Merry-go-sorry, n. A mixture of joy and sorrow

Stomaching, adj.: Full of malignity; given to cherish anger or resentment

Swerk, v. To be or become dark; in Old English often, to become gloomy, troubled, or sad

Teen, v To vex, irritate, annoy, anger, enrage / To inflict suffering upon; to afflict, harass; to injure, harm

Tremblable, adj. Causing dread or horror; dreadful

Wasteheart, int. Used to express grief, pity, regret, disappointment, or concern: ‘alas!’ ‘woe is me!’ Also wasteheart-a-day, wasteheart of me

Dowsabel, n. Applied generically to a sweetheart, ‘lady-love’

Ear-rent, n. The figurative cost to a person of listening to trivial or incessant talk