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sonder

American  
[son-der] / ˈsɒn dər /

noun

  1. the feeling one has on realizing that every other individual one sees has a life as full and real as one’s own, in which they are the central character and others, including oneself, have secondary or insignificant roles.

    In a state of sonder, each of us is at once a hero, a supporting cast member, and an extra in overlapping stories.


Etymology

Origin of sonder

Coined in 2012 by U.S. writer John Koenig in his blog The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows; perhaps partly based on French sonder “to probe, plumb,” of unclear origin, apparently either akin to sound 3 ( def. ), sound 4 ( def. ) or from Vulgar Latin subundāre (unrecorded) “to dive, plunge” (ultimately from sub sub- ( def. ) + unda “wave”); perhaps partly based on German sonder- “separate, special” ( see also sundry ( def. ))

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