mélancolie
French, noun/me.lɑ̃.kɔ.li/
mélancolie is spelled M-É-L-A-N-C-O-L-I-E (10 letters) and appears 2.6 times per million words in written French, the 17,365th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Mélancolie is a French feminine noun meaning “melancholy, black bile (one of the four humours of ancient and mediaeval physiology, that was believed to be secreted by the kidneys and…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Hypothétique bile noire dont l’excès de sécrétion prédisposerait le patient à la tristesse, selon la médecine…”.
What does mélancolie mean in English?
noun
- 1
femininemelancholy, black bile (one of the four humours of ancient and mediaeval physiology, that was believed to be secreted by the kidneys and spleen and to cause melancholy and sadness when present in excess)
- 2
femininemelancholy (sadness or depression)
Near-synonyms: cafard, blues, tristesse
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Hypothétique bile noire dont l’excès de sécrétion prédisposerait le patient à la tristesse, selon la médecine ancienne et sa théorie des humeurs. 2. Variété de maladie mentale provoquant un état de détresse apathique, forme extrême de la dépression, pouvant conduire au suicide. 3. Certaine disposition de l’âme à la tristesse.
noun: 1. Ancienne orthographe de mélancolie.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of mélancolie
- mélancolies plural
- melancolie alternative obsolete
- melancholie alternative obsolete
- mélancholie alternative obsolete
- melancolies plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce mélancolie?
- /me.lɑ̃.kɔ.li/
- \me.lɑ̃.kɔ.li\
- [me.lɑ̃.kɔ.li]
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to mélancolie
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is mélancolie in French?
mélancolie appears 2.6 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).