Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

wistful

/ˈwɪstfəl/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.71 in modern English

Syllables: wist-ful
IPA: /ˈwɪstfəl/

13

Scrabble Score

7

Letters

2

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Full of longing or yearning.

adj

Sad and thoughtful.

Example Sentences

"His eyes grew wistful as he recalled his university days."
"Her grey eyes, looking out on the violet of the night sky, the trees, and the crowd of hilarious onlookers who had not been invited to Buckingham Palace, had a patient and wistful expression."
"There are few sights that leave a railway lover more wistful than a desolate railway viaduct no longer carrying tracks. As with tunnels, so much effort was made to conquer the landscape, yet so many now stand forlorn."

Etymology

Presumably from *whistful, from whist (“silent”) + -ful, based on older wistly. It is implausible that it derives from wishful, the required sound change being wishful → *wisful → wistful, which could not occur in Modern English, particularly not with wishful continuing in use. However, the sense of “longing” appears to be influenced by wishful, making wistful an ambiguous poetic word.

Inflected Forms

more wistful (comparative) most wistful (superlative)

Derived Forms

unwistful wistfully wistfulness

Synonyms

desirous yearnful despondent unhappy atrabiliary atrabilious blitheless dispirited blue bummed out chapfallen cheerless

Rhymes With

fistful

Questions

How do you pronounce wistful?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈwɪstfəl/.
What does wistful mean?: Full of longing or yearning.
Where does wistful come from?: Presumably from *whistful, from whist (“silent”) + -ful, based on older wistly. It is implausible that it derives from wishful, the required sound change being wishful → *wisful → wistful, which could not occur in Modern English, particularly not with wishful continuing in use. However, the sense of “longing” appears to be influenced by wishful, making wistful an ambiguous poetic word.

How to pronounce wistful

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “wistful”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈwɪstfəl/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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