Words that are not used anymore.

[Silverhoop]

Beseech - when you ask someone something, I beseech thee!

Fullsome - Rich and plentiful

Henceforth - From now on.

I know these words are still used and are still in the dictionary but they are not used enough in my opinion.

[Eudora13]

Osculation is probably my favorite that I never ever hear.  What a cute and pompous word for a kiss!

I had never heard of this word or even imagined 'kiss' would have another name to it! Osculation sounds like a biological process - "He osculated me on my birthday", gives the impression of an almost fatal action taking place! Haha.I think I would prefer kiss to the alternative.

[Eudora13]

I am also a fan of obsolete and archaic words.  Some of them are so memorable it's a wonder they have gone out of fashion.  Here are a few that I like.

Apricity = warm sunshine in the winter.  A really beautiful word!

Scriptitation = continuously writing.  Yes, I can relate!

Sweven = a dream or vision.  Another gorgeous word that's been lost.

I had never heard of any of these words, I'll have to make a mental note of them. Apricity and sweven sound beautiful! Especially the latter, it fits its meaning perfectly. I wonder why they ever went out of use. I suppose people are always trying to shorten the syllabic lengths of words, and find easy pronunciations for them.

[jbepp]

I'm not a native speaker, but I almost never hear people saying "skedaddle". Would love the be proven wrong though, because I really like that word.

[SpikeTheLobster]

I read that "oftentimes" is actually an archaic form substituted by "many times" but I have found "oftentimes" in articles published by serious online sites including The New York Times.

So that, it's "oftentimes" that nobody uses anymore or is still used "oftentimes"?

Far too many people use "oftentimes" in their writing - it's a horrible word that means nothing more than "often". It's like saying "sometimestimes" or "all the time times". Ugh!

[Banister]

I always wonder where some words such as whereto and whatsup went. I always remember how my brother could use the word whatsup for more than ten times a day. But nowadays I don’t even hear him mention of this word. I don’t really know why people used the word whereto but it was a popular word during our time.

[xbrix]

I like to learn old words.

Sometimes, I'll be in the middle of a conversation, and in the middle of my sentence, I'll use an old word.

I love to see the confused look on their face!

I also think that it's really cool to learn them.

[lllllllllllllllllllllllll]

Interesting. Honestly this is the first time I have encountered the old English terms mentioned in this thread. And who would have thought that the word "gay" has an old meaning to it.

By the way, does the words "beseech" and "henceforth" still being used in present times? I hear this term in medieval films and games but I don't remember hearing this from my superiors or bosses who are native English-speakers.

[Disinterested Cow]

Henceforth still gets used but it's slightly dramatic, and not commonly used in day to day conversation. Beseech has fully fallen into the realm of ironic/mocking use only.

I would offer 'figuratively', seeing as it's apparently now been fully replaced by 'literally'.

[fredkawig]

Old wives tales which means to gossiping or made up stories. Yea, Neigh, Aye and other old English terms are not commonly used nowadays except for when you're reading it from the King James Version of the Bible.

[Daimashin]

I think it's quite cool to know words that no many people know anymore. Feels sophisticated when you use words that no one understands. Great way to impress your friends I think. Too bad, I don't really know of such words or maybe I do but I don't know it.

[ShannonRiveras]

I love learning old words, too. I have a couple of books with such terms in them.  Here are a few random examples:

pumpkinification:  exaggerated praise or acting in a pompous manner. 

Trantles: articles of little value

Foofing: A dog howling or crying in a pathetic or sad manner.

Oh, gosh, "Foofing". I have a dog that lives upstairs and he's always howling, day and night. Now I feel like telling the owner to stop her dog from "foofing". xD

[IndianapolisJones]

Who else remembers Booya? I can''t remember a kid who didn't use Booya whenever they could, but now you get made fun of if you try throwing that out casually. I know that this also isn't technically a word but I miss shizzle, really any of Snoop's -izzles.

[diprod]

I wish people still use old English languages like Thy, thou and hath! It would be pretty classy to hear everybody say these words again. I mean it's like living in Shakespeare's era!

[SmartPea85]

It's funny how words come and go with our time and place in history. I've read a good colonial insult would be to call someone a "jackanapes", which appears to refer to someone who's impertinent.

Some Old English words we don't use anymore but used to be quite popular:

anon (soon)

beguile (cheat or trick)

collier (coal-vendor)

forsooth (certainly or truly)

[Baburra]

I remembered another word just now- "asinine". It means "stupid" and it probably is still used a few times here and there but I'm guessing it would be pretty rare. I rarely hear or read it being used, probably because it kind of sounds a bit old fashioned and nowadays we're more used to more casual terms.

[Esperahol]

It depends really on the context as well as the writer - I myself am prone to using terms like whereforth and fortnight and persnickety and brouhaha - however these words aren't exactly included in common usage. More likely is my usage of obsolete definitions as relates to a word as in "Sport" being used to describe an abnormal genetic presentation or "Nice" being used to describe someone as simple-minded. It's awful of course, because I get accused of being a hipster... and me without a boss mustache.

[harpy]

An elementary teacher of mine used to describe my seatmate's puppy-eye look whenever he wanted food from another classmate as a "groke". It's a word that's no longer used, but in Old British English, it used to mean asking for someone else's food with a desperate face. The same teacher used to describe the action of fumbling for your things blindly in your bag or pockets as "grubbling". It's like searching for things but without an exact idea where to look.

[Rosyrain]

SWELL and FUDDY DUDDY are old english words used back in the 1950s that we do not use anymore.  SWELL basically means something good, but you sound very old if you are caught using it.  FUDDY DUDDY basically means a grumpy or old person without a sense of humor.

[trenchant]

Obsolete words are my favorite!

One of my favorite words to insult people with is "drazel," meaning a wench or vagabond.