ennui

English

WOTD - 10 January 2007    

Etymology

• From French ennui, from Old French enui (“annoyance”), from enuier (see ennuyer and annoy), from Vulgar Latin inodiare, from Latin odium (“hate”)

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ɒnˈwiː/
• (US) IPA: /ɑnˈwi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

ennui (uncountable)

1. A gripping listlessness or melancholia caused by boredom; depression.

Synonyms

• acedia
• weltschmerz

Quotations

• For examples of the usage of this term see the citations page.

Translations

listlessness, boredom

Bulgarian: скука (bg) f. Dutch: lusteloosheid (nl), verveling (nl) Finnish: ikävystyminen (fi) German: Langeweile (de) f., Apathie (de) f. Hungarian: kedvtelenség (hu), közöny (hu), unalom (hu) Italian: noia (it) f.

Japanese: 無聊 (ja) (buryō), つれづれ (ja) (tsurezure), アンニュイ (ja) (annyui) Polish: znużenie (pl) n. Portuguese: apatia (pt) f., tédio (pt) m. Russian: скука (ru) (skúka) f., тоска (ru) (toská) f. Spanish: apatía (es) f. Swedish: leda (sv)

melancholia, depression

Finnish: ikävä (fi) German: Depression (de) f., Melancholie (de) f. Icelandic: lífsleiði (is) m., óyndi (is) n.

Japanese: 憂鬱 (ja) (yūutsu), もの憂さ (ja) (monousa), アンニュイ (ja) (annyui) Russian: тоска (ru) (toská) f., хандра (ru) (χandrá) f. Spanish: melancolía (es) f.

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French

Etymology

Old French enui, probably from the verb enuier

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɑ̃.nɥi/

• Audio (France)

  (file)

• Homophone: ennuis

Noun

ennui m. (plural ennuis)

1. (uncountable) Boredom; lassitude.
   • 1832, Honoré de Balzac, La Femme de Trente Ans, Chapter 3,

     Notre ennui, nos mœurs fades sont le résultat du système politique. — Our boredom, our insipid customs, are the result of the political system.

2. (uncountable) Trouble, issue, annoyance.

Usage notes

• In the sense of "trouble", the word is almost solely used in the expression l'ennui avec or as a pluralia tantum (see ennuis).

Related terms

• ennuyer
• ennuyeux