Standard Lemma guide

melancholia

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • rhymes with -əʊliə
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1

noun

Meaning 1

Deep sadness or gloom; melancholy

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: gloom, melancholy, sadness, blueness, tristesse, mirthless, blues, crestfallenness, dejection, depression, despondency, distress, dolefulness, downheartedness, drearihead, forlornness, grief, heartsore, ill-being, infelicity, melancholia, misery, mishappiness, mourn, prosternation, regret, rue, ruth, sorrow, sorrowfulness, tristfulness, undelight, unhappiness, woe, woefare, wretchedness

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

depression, characterised by irrational fears, guilt and apathy

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: medicine, pathology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

extreme depression characterized by tearful sadness and irrational fears

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: depression

History

Etymology

From Late Latin melancholia, which was in turn borrowed from the Ancient Greek medical term μελαγχολία (melankholía, “blackness of the bile”) (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. Doublet of melancholy.

Across languages

Translations

45 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: سَوْدَاوِيَّة (sawdāwiyya) — Translations
  • Bulgarian: меланхолия (melanholija) — Translations
  • Chinese Mandarin: 憂鬱 /忧郁 (yōuyù) — Translations
  • Chinese Mandarin: 悲哀 (bēi'āi) — Translations
  • Czech: melancholie — Translations
  • Danish: melankoli — Translations
  • Danish: vemod — Translations
  • Dutch: melancholie — Translations
  • Dutch: weemoed — Translations
  • Finnish: melankolia — Translations
  • Finnish: apeus — Translations
  • Finnish: surumielisyys — Translations
  • French: mélancolie — Translations
  • German: Melancholie — Translations
  • German: Schwermut — Translations
  • German: Wehmut — Translations
  • Greek: μελαγχολία (melancholía) — Translations
  • Icelandic: þunglyndi — Translations
  • Indonesian: melankolia — Translations
  • Italian: malinconia — Translations
  • Japanese: 憂鬱 (yūutsu) — Translations
  • Japanese: 鬱病 (utsubyō) — Translations
  • Korean: 우울 (uul) — Translations
  • Korean: 침울 (chimul) — Translations
  • Latin: melancholia — Translations
  • Lithuanian: melancholija — Translations
  • Norwegian Bokmål: melankoli — Translations
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tungsinn — Translations
  • Norwegian Bokmål: svartsyn — Translations
  • Norwegian Bokmål: vemod — Translations
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: tunglynde — Translations
  • Polish: melancholia — Translations
  • Portuguese: melancolia — Translations
  • Romanian: melancolie — Translations
  • Romanian: tristețe — Translations
  • Russian: меланхо́лия (melanxólija) — Translations
  • Spanish: melancolía — Translations
  • Swedish: melankoli — Translations
  • Swedish: svårmod — Translations
  • Swedish: vemod — Translations
  • Swedish: tungsinne — Translations
  • Turkish: melankoli — Translations
  • Turkish: hüzün — Translations
  • Ukrainian: меланхолія (melanxolija) — Translations
  • Vietnamese: trầm cảm — Translations