melancholy

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A deep, thoughtful sadness.

   A quiet melancholy settled over her as she watched the summer end.

2. 2
   adj

   Feeling or expressing deep sadness.

   He gave a melancholy smile and turned away from the window.

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.

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