What does "melancholy" mean?

Answer by  palaeologus (564)

"Melancholy" is taken from the Greek root word for the body's "black bile" -- it was thought in ancient medicine that having too much of that "dark humour" in one's body made one's mood and disposition similarly dark.

Answer by  sofaltis (13)

Melancholy means a sadness worse than depression and closer to despair. It has a literary meaning of a sadness that cannot be lifted, where the person is completely preoccupied with their sadness. It comes from the greek melancholia where "melan" means dark and "cholia" means bile.

Answer by  John (9008)

Melancholy means being depressed or sad; it can refer to people or things. The word is Greek in origin, although it has been part of the English language for centuries.

Answer by  Lisa6938 (485)

The word "melancholy" is an adjective for the word sad. Melancholy refers to a state of feeling similar to what is known as "blue". Unhappy, depressed or forlorn could also be adjectives for the word melancholy.