I didn't read the whole thread, so forgive me if there are repeats. Quixotic - adjective (quixotically - adverb) - Naively idealistic. Can also be used to describe an undertaking or person characterized by a sincere and earnest but foolish attempt to do something good. Derived from the name of Don Quixote, a fictional character known for taking on windmills in a fight, erroneously believing them to be giants. He was fighting with honor and sincerity against a foe that didn't exist. I just think it's a neat, and really specific word. The kind of thing that may not exist in every language. Speaking of which, one of my favorite words in Chinese is actually the rough equivalent of "alcoholic" in English. 酒鬼 - 酒 is usually glossed as wine, but means any kind of alcoholic drink of any variety. 鬼 means "ghost," often with the ghost being understood to have some miserable, insatiable need, such as the hungry ghost with an unsatisfiably large stomach and an impossibly small mouth and throat. It captures the disturbance that the person can cause to others, like an evil spirit, it captures the "living dead" state of addiction, and it captures the compulsion to drink. I think it's an interesting word, personally. Another favorite is the rough equivalent of "lazybones," and it is 懒虫 "lazy bug." That's a way cuter word in my opinion. I also like the word "loquacious," but mostly because I like the sound of it, the way it rolls off the tongue.
I don't know if it's my favorite word but I'm picking pathogen because in the Greek it basically means "to give birth to suffering" and when you think what pathogens can do, that makes me wonder what the person was smoking when they decided to name them that.