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saudade

saʊˈdɑːdənoun

What does saudade mean?

A deep, tender longing for something or someone that is gone and may not come back.

Saudade, six ways

PlainA deep, tender longing for something or someone that is gone and may not come back.
ADHDMissing what’s gone. It hurts. You keep it anyway.
Gen ZMissing something that is not coming back, and half enjoying it.
MetaphorA lit window in a house you no longer live in.
FormalA profound, melancholic longing for an absent person, place or time, tinged with the sense that it may never return.
Like I’m 5When you miss someone so much it hurts, but thinking about them also feels kind of nice. That’s saudade.

How to pronounce saudade

sow-DAH-duh/saʊˈdɑːdə/

Saudade in a sentence

Every photo from that summer fills her with saudade.
Old voice notes from my grandmother bring saudade.
Fado songs are steeped in saudade.

Synonyms for saudade

longingPlainer. Wanting it back, with none of the sweetness.
nostalgiaFor a time more than a thing.
wistfulnessLighter, and it passes.

Saudade vs nostalgia: Nostalgia looks back at a time. Saudade misses a person or a place, and knows it may not come back. The difference, in plain English.

Hiraeth vs saudade: Both are a longing for what is gone. Hiraeth is for a home; saudade is for anyone or anything you loved. The difference, in plain English.

Where saudade comes from

Portuguese, from the Latin solitas, solitude. Most fado songs are about it.

Good to know

Said “sow-DAH-jee” in Brazil and “sow-DAHD” in Portugal. It holds love and loss at once, and you keep it.

Saudade meaning, on a Gloss card: A deep, tender longing for something or someone that is gone and may not come back.

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Words like saudade

schadenfreude · hiraeth · sprezzatura · sanguine · apathy · evanescent · All 110 words

In: Untranslatable words · Words for feelings · Latin and Greek roots