cauchemar means A demon or witch in French folklore that drains a sleeping person's energy by night. It carries an Arena rating of 1486, earned across 10 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, cauchemar ranks #32 of 17,118 for Scariest Words, #853 of 17,130 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #2,372 of 17,115 for Most Vivid Words, #2,921 of 17,093 for Most Storied Words.
Why “cauchemar” is a great word
A demon or witch in French folklore believed to drain a sleeping person's energy by night. Its name derives from the Old French *caucher* or *chauchier* ("to press, to trample") fused with the Germanic element *-mar* ("demon, incubus"), yielding a creature defined by its oppressive weight. Unlike an *incube* (which specifies a male demon with sexual intent) or a *rêve* (which encompasses any dream, pleasant or neutral), a *cauchemar* is a genderless entity of pure nocturnal consumption. It is the sickening paralysis in the dead of night, the invisible, suffocating pressure that steals the breath from your lungs, and the cold sweat of waking exhausted—the ancient, personified dread that the darkness itself feeds on you.
noun
- A demon or witch in French folklore that drains a sleeping person's energy by night.
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