absence makes the heart grow fonder

English

Alternative forms

• absence makes the heart fonder

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Proverb

absence makes the heart grow fonder

1. (idiomatic) When someone or something is far away, you realise how much you love (or miss) them or it.

Antonyms

• when the cat's away the mice will play
• long absent, soon forgotten
• out of sight, out of mind

See also

• hunger is the best sauce

Translations

when someone or something is faraway, you realise how much you love or miss them or it

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (of a married couple) 小別勝新婚, 小别胜新婚 (xiǎobié shèng xīnhūn), 相見不如懷念, 相见不如怀念 (xiāngjiàn bùrú huáiniàn)

• Czech: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: afwezigheid versterkt de liefde
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: etäisyys lähentää
• French: chose rarement vue est plus chère; un peu d'absence fait grand bien, loin des yeux, près du cœur (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: (semantically close, but rather rare) dem Auge fern, dem Herzen nah (literally “far from the eye, close to the heart”); (more common, but no exact match) willst du gelten, mach dich selten (literally “if you want to be cherished, make yourself scarce”)
• Greek: only the opposite phrase exists
• Hebrew: רחוק מהעין, קרוב אל הלב‎, המרחק מחזק את הרגשות‎, ההיעדרות מרככת את הלב‎
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Icelandic: fjarlægðin gerir fjöllin blá
• Indonesian: please add this translation if you can
• Irish: uireasa a mhéadaíonn cumha
• Italian: la lontananza avvicina i cuori
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can

• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: duduk sekampung lagikan rindu, inikan pula jauh di mata, duduk sekampung lagikan rindu, inikan pula jauh di rantau, jauh di mata dekat di hati, jauh serasa hilang, bercerai serasa mati, jauh bau bunga, dekat bau tahi

  Jawi: دودوق سکامڤوڠ لاݢيکن ريندو, اينکن ڤولا جاءوه دمات‎, دودوق سکامڤوڠ لاݢيکن ريندو, اينکن ڤولا جاءوه درنتاو‎, جاءوه دمات دکت دهاتي‎, جاءوه سراس هيلڠ, برچراي سراس ماتي, جاءوه باءو بوڠا, دکت باءو تاهي‎

• Maltese: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: longe dos olhos, perto do coração
• Russian: от разлу́ки любо́вь горяче́й (ot razlúki ljubóvʹ gorjačéj), разлу́ка для любви́, что ве́тер для искры́ — ма́ленькую зату́шит, а большу́ю сде́лает еще сильне́е (razlúka dlja ljubví, što véter dlja iskrý — málenʹkuju zatúšit, a bolʹšúju sdélajet ješče silʹnéje)
• Scottish Gaelic: please add this translation if you can
• Serbo-Croatian: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: nadie sabe lo que tiene hasta que lo pierde
• Tagalog: please add this translation if you can
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: mwyna' byth y man ni bôm, man gwyn man draw
• Zulu: please add this translation if you can

References

• Gregory Y. Titelman, Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, 1996, →ISBN, p. 1.