Etymology
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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.[1]
Pronunciation
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IPA (key ) : /ˈwɪstfəl/
Audio (Southern England) (file )
Adjective
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wistful (comparative more wistful , superlative most wistful )
Full of longing or yearning .
His eyes grew wistful as he recalled his university days.
1909 , Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter , New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company , published 1919 , →OCLC , page 1 :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.
Sad and thoughtful .Derived terms
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Translations
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full of longing
Bulgarian: копнеещ (bg) ( kopneešt )
Danish: længselsfuld , vemodig
Dutch: droefgeestig (nl) , weemoedig (nl) , melancholisch (nl)
Finnish: kaihoisa (fi) , haikea (fi)
French: mélancolique (fr) , nostalgique (fr)
Galician: morriñento , morriñoso , saudoso (gl) , melancólico
German: wehmütig (de) , sehnsuchtsvoll , nostalgisch (de)
Hebrew: כמה (he) ( kaméha )
Icelandic: angurvær , löngunarfullur m
Italian: malinconico (it) , nostalgico (it)
Korean: 애석(哀惜)해 하는 ( aeseokhaehaneun )
Maori: whēnako , whēnakonako
Norwegian: lengselsfull , vemodig (no)
Persian: حسرتمند ( hasratmand )
Plautdietsch: bangrich
Polish: tęskny (pl)
Portuguese: saudoso (pt) , nostálgico , melancólico (pt)
Russian: тоску́ющий (ru) ( toskújuščij ) , томя́щийся (ru) ( tomjáščijsja ) , тоскли́вый (ru) ( tosklívyj )
Serbo-Croatian: čežnjiv (sh) m , čeznutljiv (sh) m
Spanish: nostálgico (es)
Swedish: längtansfull (sv) , vemodig (sv)
Ukrainian: тужливий (uk) m ( tužlyvyj ) , ностальгійний m ( nostalʹhijnyj )
sad and thoughtful
Bulgarian: тъжен (bg) ( tǎžen ) , меланхоличен (bg) ( melanholičen )
Finnish: haikea (fi) , mietteliäs (fi)
German: schwermütig (de) , melancholisch (de)
Hebrew: עגום (he) ( agúm ) , מלנכולי ( melankóli )
Icelandic: angurvær , löngunarfullur m
Norwegian:
Bokmål: vemodig (no)
Russian: заду́мчивый (ru) ( zadúmčivyj ) ( thoughtful ) , гру́стный (ru) ( grústnyj ) , печа́льный (ru) ( pečálʹnyj ) ( sad )
Serbo-Croatian: sjetan (sh) m , sjetan (sh) m , setan m
Spanish: melancólico (es)
Swedish: vemodig (sv) n , melankolisk (sv) c
Ukrainian: задумливий ( zadumlyvyj ) , сумний m ( sumnyj ) , меланхолійний m ( melanxolijnyj )
References
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