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mélancolie

melancholy

noun meh-lahn-koh-LEE Rare
Mind & Emotions Emotions

Origin: Greek melankholia, from melas 'black' + khole 'bile'

Usage Note

Mélancolie describes a pensive, gentle sadness rather than acute distress, closer to wistfulness than depression. The adjective is mélancolique. In Romantic literature and painting, la mélancolie was a celebrated mood, and the word retains that somewhat literary flavour in modern French.

Examples

"Une douce mélancolie l'envahissait au crépuscule."

Natural Translation

A gentle melancholy washed over him at dusk.

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