melancholisch

Melancholisch is a German adjective that describes a mood, atmosphere, or demeanor marked by melancholy, introspection, or subdued sadness. It connotes a reflective, sometimes wistful quality rather than outright despair, and can apply to people, music, literature, landscapes, and sounds.

It derives from Melancholie (melancholy), which traces to Late Latin melancholia and Greek melankholia, formed from melas "black" and kholé "bile." The term historically aligns with humoral theory, where an excess of black bile was thought to generate a melancholic temperament.

In usage, melancholisch can describe things with a melancholy tone: "eine melancholische Melodie," "ein melancholischer Blick," "eine melancholische Stimmung." It is common in literary and artistic discourse and often signals nuance rather than clinical diagnosis.

Regarding temperament, melancholisch is connected to the older concept of the melancholic temperament, one of the four classical humors; in modern psychology the word is used descriptively rather than diagnostically.

Translations into English include melancholic; in German usage the form melancholisch is versatile across adjectives and adverbial forms (melancholischer, melancholisches, melancholisch). In contemporary German, the term remains a standard descriptor in literature, film, music reviews, and everyday speech.