Skeletal– relating to or functioning as a skeleton. I think this word is best with the UK pronunciation “skel-EE- tel” rather than the US “SKEL-eh-tel”.

Amnesia– loss of a block of interconnected memories. The soap opera disease! A cliché plot point so hackneyed that it almost makes me want to use it, just in case it comes back into fashion.  Even better is the adjective ‘amnestic’, as in “They were amnestic for the duration of their vacation on Secret Bloody Skull Island. They did not know exactly why. Privately, Charles suspected something terrible had happened.”

Harrowing – acutely distressing. Related to

• the archaic transitive verb harrow: pillage, plun der, torment or vex
• the noun  harrow : a gardening tool with spikes, spring teeth, or rotating disks that is used for pulverizing, crumbling, and raking the soil.

Truculent – argumentative, easily annoyed or angered. This is most of the people I know. Yeah, that’s it, they are the ones that are truculent, not me.  

Corporeal – relating to a physical material body; not spiritual.

Juggernaut – a massive force that crushes everything in its path. Derived from the Hindi name Jagannath, one of the avatars of Vishnu, Lord of the World.

Prestidigitation – slight of hand. Cobbled together from the French word preste (nimble), the Italian word presto (quick), and the Latin digitus (finger). Nimble Quickfinger! Nimble Quickfinger would be a great name for an androgynous, sexually voracious pickpocket in a high fantasy setting. Nimble Quickfinger, the scourge of all the brothels in King’s Landing! (apologies to George R.R. Martin).

Dropsy – archaic term for edema, swelling due to water retention

Endentulous – without teeth, as in “Grandad’s endentulous now, he finds it harrowing to eat a normal meal. He has become skeletal and truculent as a result. Furthermore, he can no longer practice prestidigitation due to his dropsy. It’s as though his corporeal body conspires against him and thwarts his every attempt at happiness. If it weren’t  for his near-total amnesia, he’d be hell to live with; a real juggernaut.”