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 (Wikipedia).

Synonyms

• acedia
• weltschmerz

Quotations

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

Translations

listlessness, boredom

• Bulgarian: скука (bg) (skuka) f
• Dutch: lusteloosheid (nl), verveling (nl)
• Esperanto: enuo (eo)
• 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)

• Maori: rohea (mi)
• 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)
• Welsh: diflastod (cy) m

melancholia, depression

• Esperanto: enuo (eo)
• 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
• Welsh: diflastod (cy) m

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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