Parafite

The feeling of persistently searching for a word, idea, or object that you believe exists, but in reality does not. A kind of “intellectual phantom limb,” where the brain insists on recalling something that has no actual reference or dictionary entry.

“After hours of trying to remember that term, I realized it was pure parafite.”

“Our debate was a total parafite—we spent twenty minutes looking for a quote that never existed.”