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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/44048
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/44048
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Doing something like this occasionally can be pretty entertaining, but if be careful when inventing new words: [too many new words can make your book hard to read.](https://xkcd.com/483/)

If the people in your world invented certain words because something "unrealistic" is completely normal there than it's fine if the word comes up from time to time. So if your demons are "normal" people will have thought about whether it's "tiptoe" or "tiphoof" and will use the correct term accordingly. Or at least those few people that regularly interact with demons and know how petty they can be. _You don't want to anger a demon after all and those poor commoners that never get to interact with these magnificent creatures tend to make a blunder when first encountering one - for example by using the wrong word, even if everybody knows that demons don't like when people call them out on not having any toes. Poor little commoners, always getting eaten because of such little mistakes..._

It could also be interesting if you do this once when introducing something. Like "The demon was tiptoeing around the room - or more precisely tip_hoofing_ as it didn't have any toes as far as I could see."

But if every page consists of three new words that are partly normal everyday words it will get difficult. People will rarely look at the letter of a word means. They know what "tiptoeing" _implies_ and that is all they need to imagine the scene.

If there is a good reason to use such a word by all means go ahead and use it. But don't use it just for the sake of being different or perfectly correct. Many demons don't care about political correctness, only about the next contract to get some tasty souls. People mostly want to read about demons and tasty souls - not about the anatomy if there is no character specifically analysing demon anatomy.

Original score: 11