Words you only ever see in crosswords

[ArwenUndomniel]

I'll start with the ones I see the most often.

Lea (meadow)
Col (mountain pass)
Etui (needle case)

I'm not saying they're not proper words but in real life I've never heard anyone calling a field a "lea". I think these must be popular with setters because they're short words that fit conveniently into a grid and there aren't any others that begin with e and end in i, for example.

What others can you think of?

The Polygon puzzle in the Times throws up lots of obscure words, including currencies and various flora and fauna. Some of the short ones come up a lot - etui as mentioned upthread, eyot (alternative spelling of Ait … ), eina spring to mind.