dorveille means A dreamlike semi-conscious state, such as while falling asleep or waking up, between periods of sleep, or from exhaustion; generally with reference to an altered mental state where there is no distinction between the fantastic and the familiar. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 90 out of 100.
Why “dorveille” is a great word
DORVEILLE — [Noun] A liminal, dreamlike state of semi-consciousness between sleep and wakefulness, characterized by the blurring of fantasy and reality. Borrowed from Middle French dorveille, from Old French dor ("sleep") + veille ("wakefulness, watch"). Unlike "reverie," which implies a pleasant, willful daydream in full consciousness, or "hypnagogia," a clinical term for the state preceding sleep, dorveille is the poetic name for the murky borderland itself. It is the weight of a book on your chest as its plot bleeds into your drifting thoughts; the phantom geometry of ceiling shadows resolving into a forgotten map; the half-heard voice of a radio newscaster becoming a character in a private drama. This is the mind's own twilight, where watchfulness sleeps and sleep keeps watch.
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French dorveille.
noun
- A dreamlike semi-conscious state, such as while falling asleep or waking up, between periods of sleep, or from exhaustion; generally with reference to an altered mental state where there is no distinction between the fantastic and the familiar.“[Lancelot] has witnessed the miraculous cure of his fellow knight, but he understands nothing of what he has seen in his somnolent dorveille.”