melancholy
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melancholy
- /ˈmɛlənkəli/ UK
- /ˈmɛlənk(ə)lɪj/ British, Southern, Standard
- /ˈmɛlənˌkɔlɪj/ British, Southern, Standard
- /ˈmɛl.ənˌkɑ.li/ US
Where it comes from
From Middle English malencolie, from Old French melancolie, from Ancient Greek μελαγχολία (melankholía, “atrabiliousness”) (from μέλας (mélas), μελαν- (melan-, “black, dark, murky”) + χολή (kholḗ, “bile”)), referring to the humour which ancient Hippocratic and later Galenic medicine associated with sadness and despondency. Compare the Latin ātra bīlis (“black bile”). The adjectival use is a Middle English innovation, perhaps influenced by the suffixes -y, -ly. Doublet of melancholia.
noun melancholies · melancholly · melancholie · melancholious
- Black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies. Melancholy, cold and dry, thick, black, and sour,[…]is a bridle to the other two hot humours, blood and choler, preserving them in the blood, and nourishing the bones.
-
Great sadness or depression, especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature.
My mind was troubled with deep melancholy.
Similar: despondency, misery, blueness, tristesse, mirthlessness, blues, crestfallenness, dejection, depression, distress, dolefulness, downheartedness
adjective more melancholy · most melancholy · melancholly · melancholie · melancholious
-
Affected with great sadness or depression.
Melancholy people don't talk much.
Similar: melancholic, atrabiliary, atrabilious, blitheless, dispirited, blue, bummed out, chapfallen, cheerless, chopfallen, crestfallen, cut up
- Suggestive of wistfulness or subdued emotion. Twice a day she took them out to feed in the marshy places, let them waddle and gobble for an hour or two, and then drove them back and shut them up in a small dark shed to digest their meal, whence they gave forth occasionally a melancholy quack.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: black bile, melancholic, sad, blue, gloomy, depressed, woe, acute, nostalgic, absence, athymia, gloom, dejection, despondency, depression, sadness
Translations
Every language
noun Sadness or depression
| Español | melancolía, engurrio, melarchía, flato |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 우울 uul, 침울 chimul |
| 日本語 | 憂鬱 yūutsu, 鬱病 utsubyō |
| 中文 | 憂鬱 /忧郁 yōuyù, 悲哀 bēi'āi |
| Português | melancolia |
| Français | mélancolie |
| Deutsch | Melancholie, Schwermut, Wehmut |
| Italiano | malinconia |
| Ελληνικά | μελαγχολία melancholía |
| Română | melancolie, tristețe |
| Русский | меланхо́лия melanxólija |
| Tiếng Việt | trầm cảm |
| العربية | سَوْدَاوِيَّة sawdāwiyya |
| עברית | מָרָה שְׁחוֹרָה mará shẖorá, מְלַנְכּוֹלְיָה m'lankólya |
Talk about this word "melancholy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/melancholy. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. melancholy. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/melancholy "melancholy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/melancholy.Cite this
@misc{melancholy_2026,
title = {melancholy},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/melancholy},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
