Sonder
/ˈsɑːn.dər/noun
The realization that every passerby has a life as vivid and complex as one's own.
Did you know?Sonder was coined in 2012 by John Koenig for his project The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, making it a rare modern word born from a deliberate act of linguistic creation.
Etymological Timeline
Late Latin
Latin
subundāre
“To submerge, overflow, or move beneath waves; a proposed ancestor of the later French word.”
Old French
Old French
sonder
“To probe, examine, or measure depth, especially by sounding water.”
Middle English
English
sounden
“To measure the depth of water or investigate by probing.”
Modern English
English
sound
“To measure water depth; this nautical sense shares the historical line behind French sonder.”
2012
English
sonder
“A neologism coined by John Koenig for the realization that other people possess inner lives as complex as one's own.”