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1 Definition
A deep, pensive sadness or gloom, often without any clear or specific cause. It can also refer to a severe form of clinical depression marked by persistent low mood.
2 In Use
A quiet melancholia settled over her as the last box was carried out of the empty house.
3 Word Origin
melas Gk. · black → melankholia Gk. · black bile → melancolia Middle English
Melancholia traces back to the Greek melankholia, a compound of melas, meaning black, and khole, meaning bile. Ancient physicians believed the body was governed by four fluids, or humors, and that an excess of black bile produced a brooding, sorrowful temperament. The term passed through Latin into Middle English largely unchanged, carrying its medical weight with it, and only gradually loosened into the broader, softer sense of wistful sadness we use today.
💡Fun Fact
For centuries, melancholia was treated as an actual medical diagnosis rather than a mood, prescribed for with bloodletting, diet changes, and herbal remedies aimed at rebalancing the body's humors. The German artist Albrecht Durer immortalized the concept in his 1514 engraving Melencolia I, depicting a brooding winged figure surrounded by tools and symbols of unfulfilled ambition. The word also gave rise to melancholic, a term still used in modern psychiatry to describe a specific, severe subtype of depression. Even Shakespeare leaned on the concept repeatedly, giving several of his most reflective characters a distinctly melancholic streak.