melancholy English · revision 181
5 Oct 2026, 22:11 by bogdan “Add pronunciation, sense history, timeline, meanings, word family, related words” current version
Changes in this edit
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+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /ˈmɛlənkəli/ ''(UK)''; /ˈmɛl.ənˌkɑ.li/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)
+
==Etymology==
− Recorded from c. 1300 as ''melancolie'', ''malencolie''.^(Etymonline) From [[enm|malencolie]],^(MW Collegiate)^(Wiktionary) [[bor|fro|melancolie|t=black bile; ill disposition]],^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) [[der|la-lat|melancholia]],^(AHD)^(Etymonline) [[der|grc|μελαγχολία|tr=melankholía|t=condition of having black bile]],^(OED 1989)^(RHWU) from ''mélas'' “black” + ''kholḗ'' “bile”.^(OED 1989)^(AHD)
+ From [[enm|malencolie]],^(MW Collegiate)^(Wiktionary) [[bor|fro|melancolie|t=black bile; ill disposition]],^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) [[der|la-lat|melancholia]],^(AHD)^(Etymonline) [[der|grc|μελαγχολία|tr=melankholía|t=condition of having black bile]],^(OED 1989)^(RHWU) from ''mélas'' “black” + ''kholḗ'' “bile”.^(OED 1989)^(AHD) The Old French variant ''malencolie'' arose by false association with ''mal'' “sickness”.^(Etymonline)
− Ancient medicine attributed depression to an excess of black bile, one of the body's four humours.^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary) Compare [[cholera]].^(Etymonline)
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ A mental disorder marked by sullenness, gloom, irritability, and violent anger,^(Etymonline) attributed to an excess of black bile (c. 1300).^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ Ancient medicine attributed depression to an excess of black bile, one of the body's four humours.^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary) By the mid-14th century the word also meant sorrow or gloom brought on by love or disappointment.^(Etymonline) As belief in the humours faded in the 18th century, it kept the sense of a gloomy state of mind, especially a habitual one.^(Etymonline) A lighter sense, “tender or pensive sadness”, appears from 1614.^(OED 1989)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 1303 – the disease attributed to black bile.^(OED 1989)
+ * c. 1350 – “irascibility, sullenness”.^(OED 1989)
+ * c. 1374 – “sadness, depression of spirits”.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1398 – black bile itself.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1526 – adjective.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1614 – “pensive sadness”.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1710 – adjective, “saddening, deplorable”.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)
+
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Noun===
+ # Deep, often habitual sadness or depression of spirits.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # Pensive thoughtfulness.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)
+ # ''(historical)'' Black bile, one of the four humours.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ===Adjective===
+ # Sad, gloomy.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # Causing or expressing sadness.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # Pensive.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[melancholily]]
+ * [[melancholiness]]
+ * [[unmelancholy]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[melancholic]]
+ * [[melancholia]]
+ * [[cholera]]
==References==