wistful

Meaning

1. Full of longing or yearning.
2. Sad and thoughtful.

Synonyms

pensive

😔

nostalgic

yearning

melancholic

melancholy

broody

sad

☹️

downcast

eager

joyless

longing

melancholically

moody

mournful

pensively

pensiveness

pining

plaintive

reflective

reminiscent

ruminant

ruminative

sceptic

sceptical

skeptical

somber

sombre

speculative

thoughtful

wishful

wistfully

wistfulness

yearningly

blue

yearnful

cogitative

contemplative

depressed

despondent

dismal

doleful

Translations

malinconico

wehmütig

απογοητευμένος

weemoedig

droefgeestig

πικραμένος

sehnsüchtig

pensativo

😔

pensativo

😔

anhelante

ansioso

nostalgique

pensif

😔

arzulu

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈwɪstfəl/

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