melancholy

English

Alternative forms

• melancholly, melancholie, melancholious (obsolete)

Etymology

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”). 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.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛlənkəli/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛl.ənˌkɑ.li/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

melancholy (countable and uncountable, plural melancholies)

1. (historical) Black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
     , Bk.I, New York 2001, p.148:

     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.

2. Great sadness or depression, especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature.
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], line 34:

     My mind was troubled with deep melancholy.

   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     I have neither the scholar’s melancholy, which is emulation; nor the musician’s, which is fantastical; nor the courtier’s, which is proud; nor the soldier’s, which is ambitious; nor the lawyer’s, which is politic; nor the lady’s, which is nice; nor the lover’s, which is all these; but it is a melancholy of mine own, compounded of many simples, extracted from many objects, and, indeed, the sundry contemplation of my travels; in which my often rumination wraps me in a most humorous sadness.

   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VI, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 111:

     "The ancients referred melancholy to the mind, the moderns make it matter of digestion—to either case my plan applies," said Lady Mandeville.

   • 1936 Sept. 15, F. Scott Fitzgerald, letter to Beatrice Dance:

     As to Ernest... He is quite as nervously broken down as I am but it manifests itself in different ways. His inclination is towards megalomania and mine towards melancholy.

Derived terms

• melancholy thistle
• solemncholy

Translations

Sadness or depression

Arabic: سوداء Egyptian Arabic: ماليخوليا Aromanian: milanculii f Azerbaijani: melanxoliya Basque: malenkonia Belarusian: меланхолія f (mjelanxólija) Bulgarian: меланхолия (bg) f (melanholija) Catalan: malenconia (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 憂鬱／忧郁 (zh) (yōuyù), 悲哀 (zh) (bēi'āi) Czech: melancholie (cs) f Danish: melankoli (da) c, vemod n Dutch: melancholie (nl) f, weemoed (nl) m Esperanto: melankolio Estonian: melanhoolia Finnish: melankolia (fi), apeus (fi), surumielisyys (fi), alakulo (fi) French: mélancolie (fr) f Galician: melancolía (gl) f German: Melancholie (de) f, Schwermut (de) f, Wehmut (de) f Greek: μελαγχολία (el) f (melancholía) Hebrew: מָרָה שְׁחוֹרָה (he) f (mará shẖorá), מְלַנְכּוֹלְיָה f (m'lankólya) Hungarian: melankólia (hu) Icelandic: þunglyndi (is) n Italian: malinconia (it) f Japanese: 憂鬱 (ja) (yūutsu), 鬱病 (ja) (utsubyō) Korean: 우울 (ko) (uul), 침울 (ko) (chimul) Latin: melancholia f Lithuanian: melancholija f Manchu: ᠠᡴᠠᠴᡠᠨ (akacun) Maori: kainatu, rāwakiwaki Mongolian: ухаан балартан (uxaan balartan) Norwegian: Bokmål: melankoli m, tungsinn n, svartsyn n, vemod n Nynorsk: tunglynde n Persian: مالیخولیا (fa) (mâlixuliyâ), مالنخولیا (mâlenxuliyâ) Polish: melancholia (pl) f Portuguese: melancolia (pt) f Romanian: melancolie (ro) f, tristețe (ro) f Russian: меланхо́лия (ru) f (melanxólija) Scottish Gaelic: dòlasachd f, mulad m, èislean m, cianalas m, tùirse f, truime f, dubhachas m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: меланхолија f, меланколија f Roman: melanhòlija (sh) f, melankòlija (sh) f Sicilian: malancunìa (scn) Slovak: melanchólia Slovene: melanholija Spanish: melancolía (es) f Swedish: melankoli (sv) c, svårmod (sv) n, vemod (sv) n, tungsinne (sv) n Tajik: молихулиё (molixuliyo) Turkish: melankoli (tr), hüzün (tr), durgunluk (tr) Ottoman Turkish: سودا (sevda) Ukrainian: меланхолія f (melanxolija) Vietnamese: trầm cảm (vi) Walloon: miråcoleye (wa) f

Adjective

melancholy (comparative more melancholy, superlative most melancholy)

1. (literary) Affected with great sadness or depression.

   Melancholy people don't talk much.

   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     […] he is melancholy without cause, and merry against the hair: […]

   • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

     “ […] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. […] And then, when you see [the senders], you probably find that they are the most melancholy old folk with malignant diseases. […] ”

   • 1981, Greg Kihn, Steve Wright, “The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)”, in RocKihnRoll‎, performed by The Greg Kihn Band:

     It was the same old song / With a melancholy sound

Synonyms

• (thoughtful sadness): melancholic
• See also Thesaurus:sad

Translations

affected with sadness or depression — see melancholic

Related terms

• melancholic
• sadness
• melancholia