agloo

Etymology

Of Inuit origin.

agloo means A seal's breathing-hole in the ice. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.

Why this word is great

AGLOO — [Noun] A breathing hole made and maintained in sea ice by a seal. Of Inuit origin, a word borne of intimate necessity on the frozen sea. Unlike "igloo" (a deliberate, domed shelter for humans) or "polynya" (a vast, persistent opening shaped by ocean currents), an agloo is a private, vital aperture, a singular covenant between an animal and the frozen surface. It is a perfect, dark circle of ink in a sheet of white paper; a silvered rim of re-frozen breath kept open by a soft muzzle; the faint, exhalant sigh of warmth rising into the Arctic stillness—the fragile puncture through which life, in its soft and breathing form, negotiates the frozen silence.

noun

A seal's breathing-hole in the ice.