nostalgia

C2 Topic:Time

US /nɑˈstæld͡ʒə/ UK /nɒˈstæld͡ʒə/ See IPA manual

Freq #16177

Meanings

1

noun
A bittersweet longing for happy times in the past.

Old photographs filled her with nostalgia for her school years.
2

noun
A longing for home or familiar surroundings; homesickness.

The smell of his mother's cooking sent a wave of nostalgia through him.

Thesaurus

Opposites

nostopathynostophobia

Word family

Derived forms nostalgic nostalgicallynostalgisenostalgismnostalgistnostalgizenowstalgiaretro-nostalgiayugo-nostalgia

Related forms anemoiaeastalgiafauxstalgiareminiscencesolastalgiatechnostalgia

Etymology

From New Latin nostalgia, coined by Johannes Hofer in 1688 from Ancient Greek νόστος (nóstos, “returning home”) + ἄλγος (álgos, “pain”), calquing German Heimweh. Ancient Greek *νοσταλγία (*nostalgía) is unattested. Transferred sense probably influenced by French nostalgie, especially in literature. Compare Italian nostalgia, Spanish nostalgia, Portuguese nostalgia and French nostalgie.

*nes- Proto-Indo-European nostalgia la-new νόστος Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

External links

# nostalgia

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /nɑˈstæld͡ʒə/
**IPA (UK):** /nɒˈstæld͡ʒə/
**Frequency rank:** 16177

## Meanings
1. A bittersweet longing for happy times in the past.
2. A longing for home or familiar surroundings; homesickness.

## Examples
- Old photographs filled her with nostalgia for her school years.
- The smell of his mother's cooking sent a wave of nostalgia through him.

## Antonyms
- nostopathy
- nostophobia

## Derived Forms
- nostalgic
- nostalgically
- nostalgise
- nostalgism
- nostalgist
- nostalgize
- nowstalgia
- retro-nostalgia
- yugo-nostalgia

## Related Forms
- anemoia
- eastalgia
- fauxstalgia
- reminiscence
- solastalgia
- technostalgia

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *nes-
- Root: nostalgia
- Root: νόστος

## Etymology
From New Latin nostalgia, coined by Johannes Hofer in 1688 from Ancient Greek νόστος (nóstos, “returning home”) + ἄλγος (álgos, “pain”), calquing German Heimweh. Ancient Greek *νοσταλγία (*nostalgía) is unattested. Transferred sense probably influenced by French nostalgie, especially in literature. Compare Italian nostalgia, Spanish nostalgia, Portuguese nostalgia and French nostalgie.

## AI Etymology
Nostalgia is from New Latin nostalgia, coined by Johannes Hofer in 1688 from Ancient Greek νόστος (nóstos, “returning home”) + ἄλγος (álgos, “pain”), calquing German Heimweh. Ancient Greek *νοσταλγία (*nostalgía) is unattested. Transferred sense probably influenced by French nostalgie, especially in literature. Compare Italian nostalgia, Spanish nostalgia, Portuguese nostalgia and French nostalgie. The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern nominal form is built from the named base and affix. Important recorded forms include *nes- (Proto-Indo-European), nostalgia (la-new), and νόστος (Ancient Greek). Current senses include a bittersweet longing for happy times in the past and a longing for home or familiar surroundings; homesickness. The wider family includes derived forms such as nostalgic, nostalgically, nostalgise, nostalgism, and nostalgist; related words such as anemoia, eastalgia, fauxstalgia, and reminiscence.

## Topics
- Time

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nostalgia

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