wistful

English

Etymology

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, and could not occur in Modern English, particularly not with wishful continuing in use. However, the sense of “longing” appears to be influenced by wishful, with wistful being an ambiguous poetic word.

Adjective

wistful (comparative more wistful, superlative most wistful)

1. full of yearning or longing

   His eyes grew wistful as he recalled his university days.

2. sad and thoughtful

Synonyms

• (thoughtful sadness): melancholy

Translations

full of longing

Danish: længselsfuld (da), vemodig Dutch: droefgeestig, weemoedig, droevig peinzend Finnish: kaihoisa (fi) Hebrew: כמה (he) (kaméha)

Icelandic: angurvær (is), löngunarfullur (is) m. Italian: malinconico (it), nostalgico (it) Norwegian: lengselsfull (no), vemodig

sad and thoughtful

Finnish: haikea (fi), mietteliäs (fi) Hebrew: עגום (he) (agúm), מלנכולי (he) (melankóli)

Icelandic: angurvær (is), löngunarfullur (is) m.