# nostalgia

> English word · Noun · IPA /nɒˈstæld͡ʒə/ · frequency rank #12,647

## Definitions
1. A longing for home or familiar surroundings; homesickness.
2. A bittersweet yearning for the things of the past.

## Etymology
From New Latin nostalgia, coined by Johannes Hofer in 1688 from Ancient Greek νόστος (nóstos, “returning home”) + ἄλγος (álgos, “pain”), calquing German Heimweh. Ancient Greek *νοσταλγία (*nostalgía) is unattested. Transferred sense probably influenced by French nostalgie, especially in literature.
Compare Italian nostalgia, Spanish nostalgia, Portuguese nostalgia and French nostalgie.

## Easily confused with
- **nostalgic** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nostalgia-vs-nostalgic)

## Common misspellings (13)
`nnostalgia`, `nosatlgia`, `nosstalgia`, `nostaglia`, `nostalgai`, `nostalggia`, `nostaliga`, `nostallgia`, `nostlagia`, `nosttalgia`, `notsalgia`, `nsotalgia`, `onstalgia`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/nostalgia