saudade

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese saudade.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /saʊˈdɑːdə/

Noun

saudade (uncountable)

1. A feeling of melancholy for something that is absent or lost.
   • 2019 January 30, Naty, “Dear gringos, the Portuguese word “Saudade” doesn’t mean what you make it sound like”, in Naty's Bookshelf‎^[2], archived from the original on 11 April 2021:

     I have the feeling, from using the word as a first language speaker, that saudade conveys a bit more feeling, a bit more sorrow, a bit more longing than “I miss you”.

Galician

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sawˈdade/ [s̺ɑwˈð̞a.ð̞ɪ]
• Rhymes: -ade
• Hyphenation: sau‧da‧de

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese soydade (13^th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin sōlitātem (“solitude”). For the unexpected phonetic development, see Portuguese saudade.

Alternative forms

• soidade, suidade

Noun

saudade f (plural saudades)

1. wistfulness, melancholy, nostalgia, yearning, longing; the feeling of missing something or someone

   Synonym: señardade

   • 1390, J. L. Pensado Tomé, editor, Os Miragres de Santiago, Madrid: C.S.I.C., page 47:

     Quando aquel Ihesus, meu señor, ya por la terras preegar, eu avia de moy grãde amor et soydade de veer a sua façe et quigi mãdar pintar a semelança do seu rrostro, que era a mays fremosa criatura do mũdo, en hũu pano por fillar cõ ela prazer et cõforto quando o vise; et querendoo fazer cõteyllo todo, et el pediome o pano et posoo ẽna sua cara et doumo encayado cõ tal figura cal era o seu santo rrostro;

     When that Jesus, my Lord, was going about the lands preaching, I had, because of how big was my love, longing for seeing His face; and I wanted to order a paint after His face, which was the most beautiful creation in the world, in a cloth, for having joy and confort whenever I saw it; and wanting to do it I told him, and He asked me for the cloth, put it on His face and gave it back to me stuck with a figure that was no other than His holy face;

See also

• morriña (“homesickness”)

References

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “soidade”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “saudade”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “saudade”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “saudade”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “soidade”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Further reading

• “saudade”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026
• “saudade”, in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (in Galician), 2014–2026

Etymology 2

Verb

saudade

1. second-person plural imperative of saudar

Indonesian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Portuguese saudade.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /sau̯ˈdade/ [sau̯ˈda.de]
• Rhymes: -ade
• Syllabification: sau‧da‧de

Noun

saudade (uncountable)

1. longing; the feeling of missing something or someone

Further reading

• “saudade”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Portuguese saudade.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sa.uˈda.de/
  • Rhymes: -ade
  • Hyphenation: sa‧u‧dà‧de
• IPA^(key): (careful style) /sa.uˈda.d͡ʒi/
  • Rhymes: -adʒi

Noun

saudade f (invariable)

1. saudade

Further reading

• saudade in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• saudade in garzantilinguistica.it – Garzanti Linguistica, De Agostini Scuola Spa

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *salūtātem. Etymologically unrelated to Portuguese saudade (from soydade), but potentially an influence in that word’s development.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sa.uˈda.de/
• Rhymes: -dade

Noun

saudade f (plural saudades)

1. salvation

   Synonym: salvaçom

   • 1497, Rodrigo Álvares, “Domingo terceyꝛo depois da paſcoa”, in Euangelhos ⁊ epiſtolas con ſuas expoſições en romãce‎^[3], Porto: Rodrigo Álvares, translation of original by Guilhelmus Parisiensis, page 142r:

     […] ſe ha a ygreja neſte tẽpo que he a bille aa medicina eſpiritual a qual muito mais deuemos deſejar ⁊ buſcar que a do coꝛpo poꝛque conſerua a ſaudade eterna.

     […] in this time, there is the Church, which is the bile to the spiritual medicine that we should desire and seek much more than that of the body, because it conserves eternal salvation.

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• soidade (Beira, Trás-os-Montes)
• suidade (Beira)
• sodade (Brazil, dialectal, nonstandard)
• saùdade, saüdade (pre-reform spelling)

Etymology

First attested in the 16th century, from an alteration of Old Galician-Portuguese soydade, from Latin sōlitātem (“solitude”). Both the semantic and phonetic developments are readily explained by assuming influence by Arabic سَوْدَاء (sawdāʔ, “melancholy”, literally “black bile”). Other possible factors are influence from saudar (“to wish good health”) and saudade (“salvation”) or learned hypercorrection of the diphthong ⟨oi⟩ to ⟨au⟩ (compare coisa with the Latinism causa).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /sawˈda.d͡ʒi/ [saʊ̯ˈda.d͡ʒi], (dated) /sa.uˈda.d͡ʒi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /sawˈda.d͡ʒi/ [saʊ̯ˈda.d͡ʒi], (dated) /sa.uˈda.d͡ʒi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /sawˈda.de/ [saʊ̯ˈda.de], (dated) /sa.uˈda.de/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /sɐwˈda.dɨ/ [sɐwˈða.ðɨ], (dated) /sɐ.uˈda.dɨ/ [sɐ.uˈða.ðɨ]

• Audio (Central-West Brazil):

  (file)

• Audio (Brazil (Caipira)):

  (file)

• Audio (Portugal (Coimbra)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -ad͡ʒi, (Portugal) -adɨ
• Hyphenation: sau‧da‧de, (dated) sa‧u‧da‧de

Noun

saudade f (plural saudades)

1. wistfulness, melancholy, nostalgia, yearning, longing; the feeling of missing something or someone

   sentir saudade de alguém ― to miss someone

   ter saudades de casa ― to miss home, to feel homesick

   matar saudades ― to catch up

   • 1937, Orestes Barbosa, “Chão de Estrelas” (single), performed by Silvio Caldas, Odeon:

     E hoje, quando do sol a claridade / Forra o meu barracão, sinto saudade / Da mulher, pomba-rola que voou

     And today, when the sunlight covers my home, I miss the woman, the dove who flew away.

Usage notes

The verb to miss (someone) may be translated as ter saudade (“to have saudade”), sentir saudade (“to feel saudade”) or estar com saudade (literally “to be with saudade”). The plural saudades may also be used with no change in meaning.

Derived terms

• saudoso

Descendants

• Kabuverdianu: sodade
• Kristang: saudadi
• → English: saudade
• → Esperanto: saŭdado
• → French: saudade
• → Italian: saudade
• → Spanish: saudade

See also

• Welsh hiraeth
• Appendix:Terms considered difficult or impossible to translate into English

Further reading

• “saudade”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “saudade”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “saudade”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN
• “saudade”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese saudade, from Old Galician-Portuguese soydade. Doublet of soledad.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sauˈdade/ [sau̯ˈð̞a.ð̞e]
• Rhymes: -ade
• Syllabification: sau‧da‧de

Noun

saudade f (plural saudades)

1. the feeling of missing something or someone

Further reading

• “saudade”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025