Discover the dark side of language with this beautifully unsettling collection of macabre, mysterious, and hauntingly evocative words.

This captivating collection explores more than 300 chilling terms, from “abysmal” and “cadaverous” to “wraith”, “zombie”, and beyond. Each entry uncovers the origins and meanings behind words that have crept through folklore, literature, cinema, and popular imagination.

Readers will encounter grisly English expressions alongside sinister words from other languages, including the Japanese tsujigiri, a deadly crossroads killing, and the Dutch bokkenrijders, ghostly goat-riding thieves.

Far more than a dictionary, this is an atmospheric journey into the dark side of etymology, revealing how language reflects fear, superstition, taboo, morality, and the enduring human appetite for the strange.

With literary and poetic excerpts woven throughout, each word is brought vividly to life. Entertaining, informative, and deliciously unnerving, this is the perfect read for lovers of horror, the gothic, and dark academia, and anyone intrigued by what happens in the shadows…

About The Author

Caroline Taggart is the bestselling author of more than thirty books, including I Used to Know That, My Grammar and I (Or Should That Be ‘Me’?), 500 Words You Should Know, and The Book Lover’s Bucket List. A frequent presence on radio and television, she brings her signature wit, charm, and encyclopedic knowledge of language to every page—now inviting readers to explore the deliciously dark side of words.