zenosyne

/zɛˈnɒs.ən.i/

Etymology

Coined by American author and neologist John Koenig, creator of The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows; a blend of Zeno (“the name of ancient Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea, in reference to Zeno’s dichotomy paradox, which ‘asks how a person can walk from one point to another if they must first cross a seeming infinity of halfway points, which makes their journey look like a series of ever-shrinking steps’”) + Mnemosyne (“the personification of memory in ancient Greek mythology”).

Why this word is great

ZENOSYNE — [Noun] The subjective sensation that time accelerates as one ages. Coined by John Koenig; a blend of Zeno (from Zeno's dichotomy paradox, referencing the ancient Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea) + Mnemosyne (the personification of memory in Greek mythology). Unlike "chronophobia" (which dreads time’s passage) or "tempus fugit" (which merely notes it), zenosyne is the quiet horror of realizing childhood summers now condense into the blink of an eye. It is the way birthdays arrive like subway trains—first with languid intervals, then in rattling succession; the way a decade once unfathomable becomes a single drawer of mismatched socks and faded receipts; the way the future, once vast, narrows to a corridor of closing doors. Time does not fly—it fractures.

noun

The sense that time keeps going faster.“This is the obscurest of the sorrows, / Though some say it’s entirely an illusion, / That time must be a constant (our tomorrows / Arriving by the clock, and in profusion), / That time is bound to pay back what it borrows, / Adjusting fast with slow, and in conclusion / We should take heart, adjust our hopes, and be / Prepared to understand zenosyne.”