melancholy
/ˈmɛl.ənˌkɑ.li/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.39 in modern English
20
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Great sadness or depression, especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature.
Countable; Uncountable
adj
Suggestive of wistfulness or subdued emotion.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "My mind was troubled with deep melancholy."
- "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."
- ""The ancients referred melancholy to the mind, the moderns make it matter of digestion—to either case my plan applies," said Lady Mandeville."
- "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."
- "Melancholy people don't talk much."
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”)), 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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: malencolie, melancolie
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈmɛl.ənˌkɑ.li/
- British English: /ˈmɛlənkəli/
Usage
Inflected Forms
melancholies (plural)
melancholly (alternative, obsolete)
melancholie (alternative, obsolete)
melancholious (alternative, obsolete)
more melancholy (comparative)
most melancholy (superlative)