Word of the Day: melancholy
Part of speech: noun or adjective
Pronunciation: UK /ˈmɛlənkəli/ · US /ˈmɛl.ənˌkɑ.li/
Simple meaning: a quiet, thoughtful sadness; or something that creates that feeling.
Listen to the pronunciation
What Does Melancholy Mean?
Melancholy is a lasting sadness that is often calm and reflective rather than sudden or dramatic. As a noun, it names the feeling itself. As an adjective, it can describe a person, a voice, a place, or a piece of music that seems touched by sadness. A melancholy scene may still be beautiful, but it carries a sense of loss or distance.
The word reached English through French and comes from an old Greek expression for “black bile.” Earlier medical traditions linked that substance with sadness. Modern English no longer uses the word in that medical sense, but the association with deep, thoughtful sorrow remains.
Examples
- The empty harbour had a melancholy beauty after sunset.
- Her voice became melancholy when she remembered the long voyage.
- A feeling of melancholy followed him through the quiet streets.
Use It While You Listen
Listen for changes of mood in Moby-Dick. Herman Melville moves between action, humour, danger, and reflective sadness. The word melancholy is useful when a character’s thoughts become heavy or when the sea feels vast and lonely. Try to identify whether the word describes a person, a voice, or the atmosphere of a scene.
Related words: sadness, gloom, sorrow, wistfulness, reflective.
Swedish: melankoli · German: Melancholie · French: mélancolie.
Sources and Audio Credit
The pronunciation, word history, and grammatical uses were checked against Wiktionary. This page uses original BookAud explanations and examples. The US pronunciation was recorded by Dvortygirl and is available from Wikimedia Commons under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license. The audio is used without modification.