nostalgia

See also: nostalgía

English

Alternative forms

• nostalgy (archaic)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *nes-

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Hellenic *nóstos

Ancient Greek νόστος (nóstos)

Proto-Indo-European *h₂leg-der.?

Ancient Greek ἄλγος (álgos)

New Latin nostalgiabor.

English nostalgia

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /nɒˈstæld͡ʒə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /nɑˈstæld͡ʒə/, /nəˈstæld͡ʒə/, /nɔˈstæld͡ʒə/; /nɑˈstɑld͡ʒə/, /nəˈstɑld͡ʒə/, /nɔˈstɑld͡ʒə/
• (Australia) IPA^(key): /nəˈstæɫd͡ʒə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

nostalgia (countable and uncountable, plural nostalgias)

1. (now uncommon) A longing for home or familiar surroundings; homesickness. [from 18th c.]

   Antonyms: nostopathy, nostophobia

   Seeing food at camp similar to his mother's cooking sent a wave of nostalgia through him.

   • 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter L, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:

     I have an idea that some men are born out of their due place. Accident has cast them amid certain surroundings, but they have always a nostalgia for a home they know not.

2. (transferred sense) A bittersweet yearning for the things of the past. [from 20th c.]

   an alumnus' feelings of nostalgia for his/her years in high school

   • 2013 August 16, Oliver Burkeman, “This is the cutest article”, in The Guardian Weekly‎^[1], volume 189, number 10, page 20:

     I can't have been the only person, last week, to feel a rush of nostalgia upon learning that Thames Water had removed a bus-sized, 15-tonne lump of food fat ("mixed with wet wipes") from the sewers under London. The fatberg was an August news story redolent of the old-fashioned silly season.

   • 2020 September 9, Priya Elan, “Now-stalgia: why fashion is going back to the future”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     […] Rousteing asked: “Is my generation’s nostalgia for our turn-of-the-century childhood culture somehow less cool than fashion’s more familiar fixation on the 70s and 80s?” The answer was a firm “no”: in 2020 all nostalgia is good nostalgia. “The nostalgia economy”, as named by Quartz, is the most powerful trend in fashion since florals or trousers and is a reaction to what’s happening in the world.

   • 2022 November 15, Dan Hancox, “‘Who remembers proper binmen?’ The nostalgia memes that help explain Britain today”, in The Guardian‎^[3]:

     Though there is nothing generationally unique in the desire to bask in the banalities of your past, these nostalgia communities have flourished on Facebook as its user base has grown ever older in the past decade.

   • 2024 May 21, Matthew Reisz, “Nostalgia: A History of a Dangerous Emotion by Agnes Arnold-Foster review – the past isn’t a foreign place”, in The Guardian‎^[4], →ISSN:

     Yet it continued to be treated as rather suspect. In the mid-20th century, a psychoanalyst called Nandor Fodor dismissed nostalgia, along with utopian politics and even the vogue for Tarzan films, as “the manifestation of a latent desire to return to the womb”.

   • 2025 November 12, 'Mystery Shopper', “Is Devon the cream of the crop?”, in RAIL, number 1048, page 48:

     Many of the stations, some of which are request stops, still have their original LSWR buildings. All are now private homes, but it oozes nostalgia (which I like).

   • 2026 January 21, Patrick Wintour, “Middle powers assemble? Trump disorder prompts talk of new liberal alliances”, in The Guardian‎^[5], →ISSN:

     [Mark] Carney, perhaps the most articulate of those giving voice to this sentiment, vowed he would no longer live in a state of nostalgia, waiting for an old world to return.

Derived terms

• blinded by nostalgia
• Eastalgia
• fauxstalgia
• nostalgia goggles
• nostalgic
• nostalgically
• nostalgise
• nostalgism
• nostalgist
• nostalgize
• nowstalgia
• retro-nostalgia
• technostalgia
• Yugo-nostalgia

Related terms

• nostalgie de la boue
• solastalgia

Translations

longing for home or familiar surroundings — see homesickness

bittersweet yearning for the things of the past

• Albanian: nostalgji (sq) f
• Arabic: حَنِين m (ḥanīn), اِشْتِيَاق (ar) m (ištiyāq)
• Armenian: կարոտաբաղձություն (hy) (karotabaġjutʻyun), նոստալգիա (hy) (nostalgia)
• Asturian: señardá f
• Azerbaijani: nostalgiya
• Belarusian: настальгі́я f (nastalʹhíja)
• Bulgarian: носта́лгия (bg) f (nostálgija)
• Catalan: nostàlgia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 懷舊 / 怀旧 (zh) (huáijiù), 懷古 / 怀古 (zh) (huáigǔ)

• Czech: nostalgie (cs) f
• Danish: nostalgi c
• Dutch: nostalgie (nl) f
• Esperanto: saŭdado, nostalgio
• Estonian: nostalgia (et)
• Finnish: nostalgia (fi), haikeus (fi), kaiho (fi)
• French: nostalgie (fr) f
• Galician: morriña (gl) f
• Georgian: ნოსტალგია (nosṭalgia)
• German: Nostalgie (de) f, Wehmut (de) f
• Greek: νοσταλγία (el) f (nostalgía)
• Guarani:

  Paraguayan Guarani: ^{(please verify)} techaga'u

• Hebrew: נוֹסְטַלְגְיָה (he) f (nostálgya)
• Hindi: उदासी (hi) f (udāsī), गृहातुरता (gŕhāturtā), गृहस्मारी (gŕhasmārī), गृह-विरह (gŕh-virah)
• Hungarian: nosztalgia (hu)
• Icelandic: nostalgía f, fortíðarþrá f
• Indonesian: nostalgia (id)
• Italian: nostalgia (it) f
• Japanese: 懐古 (ja) (かいこ, kaiko), 懐旧 (ja) (かいきゅう, kaikyū), ノスタルジー (ja) (nosutarujī), ノスタルジア (ja) (nosutarujia)
• Khmer: ការនឹករលឹក (karnœ̆krôlœ̆k)
• Korean: 향수(鄕愁) (ko) (hyangsu), 노스탤지어 (noseutaeljieo), 회향(懷鄕) (ko) (hoehyang)
• Ladino: eskarinyo m, deskarinyo m (Izmir)
• Latvian: nostalģija f
• Lithuanian: nostalgija f
• Macedonian: носталгија f (nostalgija)
• Malay: nostalgia
• Malayalam: ഗൃഹാതുരത്വം (ml) (gr̥hāturatvaṁ), ഗതാതുരത്വം (gatāturatvaṁ)
• Mongolian: дурсахуй (dursaxuj)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nostalgi (no) m

  Nynorsk: nostalgi m

• Persian: اندمه (fa) (andame), نوستالژی (fa) (nostâlži)
• Polish: nostalgia (pl) f
• Portuguese: nostalgia (pt) f, saudade (pt)
• Romanian: nostalgie (ro) f
• Russian: ностальги́я (ru) f (nostalʹgíja), тоска́ (ru) f (toská)
• Scottish Gaelic: cianalas m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: носта̀лгија f

  Latin: nostàlgija (sh) f

• Slovak: nostalgia f
• Slovene: nostalgija f
• Spanish: nostalgia (es) f, añoranza (es) f
• Swedish: nostalgi (sv) c
• Tagalog: nostalhiya, pagbabalik-tanaw, panglaw, mapanglaw (tl)
• Tashelhit: amarg m
• Thai: ความคิดถึง (th)
• Turkish: nostalji (tr)
• Ukrainian: ностальгі́я f (nostalʹhíja)
• Urdu: اداسی f (udāsī)
• Vietnamese: hoài niệm (vi), nuối tiếc, nỗi nhớ
• Welsh: hiraeth (cy) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 郷愁 (ja) (きょうしゅう, kyōshū), ^{(please verify)} 望郷 (ja) (ぼうきょう, bōkyō), ^{(please verify)} 里心 (ja) (さとごころ, satogokoro)
• Khmer: ^{(please verify)} ការអាឡោះអាល័យ (kaa aalɑh aalay)

See also

• halcyon days
• hark back
• memory lane
• reminiscence
• anemoia

Anagrams

• analogist, antigoals, galtonias

Finnish

Etymology

From New Latin nostalgia, coined from Ancient Greek νόστος (nóstos, “returning home”) + ἄλγος (álgos, “pain”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnostɑlɡiɑ/, [ˈno̞s̠tɑ̝lˌɡiɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -iɑ
• Syllabification^(key): nos‧tal‧gi‧a
• Hyphenation^(key): nos‧tal‧gia

Noun

nostalgia

1. nostalgia

Declension

Inflection of nostalgia (Kotus type 12/kulkija, no gradation)
nominative		nostalgia	nostalgiat
genitive		nostalgian	nostalgioiden nostalgioitten
partitive		nostalgiaa	nostalgioita
illative		nostalgiaan	nostalgioihin
		singular	plural
nominative		nostalgia	nostalgiat
accusative	nom.	nostalgia	nostalgiat
	gen.	nostalgian
genitive		nostalgian	nostalgioiden nostalgioitten nostalgiain rare
partitive		nostalgiaa	nostalgioita
inessive		nostalgiassa	nostalgioissa
elative		nostalgiasta	nostalgioista
illative		nostalgiaan	nostalgioihin
adessive		nostalgialla	nostalgioilla
ablative		nostalgialta	nostalgioilta
allative		nostalgialle	nostalgioille
essive		nostalgiana	nostalgioina
translative		nostalgiaksi	nostalgioiksi
abessive		nostalgiatta	nostalgioitta
instructive		—	nostalgioin
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of nostalgia (Kotus type 12/kulkija, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative nostalgiani nostalgiani accusative nom. nostalgiani nostalgiani gen. nostalgiani genitive nostalgiani nostalgioideni nostalgioitteni nostalgiaini rare partitive nostalgiaani nostalgioitani inessive nostalgiassani nostalgioissani elative nostalgiastani nostalgioistani illative nostalgiaani nostalgioihini adessive nostalgiallani nostalgioillani ablative nostalgialtani nostalgioiltani allative nostalgialleni nostalgioilleni essive nostalgianani nostalgioinani translative nostalgiakseni nostalgioikseni abessive nostalgiattani nostalgioittani instructive — — comitative — nostalgioineni second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative nostalgiasi nostalgiasi accusative nom. nostalgiasi nostalgiasi gen. nostalgiasi genitive nostalgiasi nostalgioidesi nostalgioittesi nostalgiaisi rare partitive nostalgiaasi nostalgioitasi inessive nostalgiassasi nostalgioissasi elative nostalgiastasi nostalgioistasi illative nostalgiaasi nostalgioihisi adessive nostalgiallasi nostalgioillasi ablative nostalgialtasi nostalgioiltasi allative nostalgiallesi nostalgioillesi essive nostalgianasi nostalgioinasi translative nostalgiaksesi nostalgioiksesi abessive nostalgiattasi nostalgioittasi instructive — — comitative — nostalgioinesi first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative nostalgiamme nostalgiamme accusative nom. nostalgiamme nostalgiamme gen. nostalgiamme genitive nostalgiamme nostalgioidemme nostalgioittemme nostalgiaimme rare partitive nostalgiaamme nostalgioitamme inessive nostalgiassamme nostalgioissamme elative nostalgiastamme nostalgioistamme illative nostalgiaamme nostalgioihimme adessive nostalgiallamme nostalgioillamme ablative nostalgialtamme nostalgioiltamme allative nostalgiallemme nostalgioillemme essive nostalgianamme nostalgioinamme translative nostalgiaksemme nostalgioiksemme abessive nostalgiattamme nostalgioittamme instructive — — comitative — nostalgioinemme second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative nostalgianne nostalgianne accusative nom. nostalgianne nostalgianne gen. nostalgianne genitive nostalgianne nostalgioidenne nostalgioittenne nostalgiainne rare partitive nostalgiaanne nostalgioitanne inessive nostalgiassanne nostalgioissanne elative nostalgiastanne nostalgioistanne illative nostalgiaanne nostalgioihinne adessive nostalgiallanne nostalgioillanne ablative nostalgialtanne nostalgioiltanne allative nostalgiallenne nostalgioillenne essive nostalgiananne nostalgioinanne translative nostalgiaksenne nostalgioiksenne abessive nostalgiattanne nostalgioittanne instructive — — comitative — nostalgioinenne third-person possessor singular plural nominative nostalgiansa nostalgiansa accusative nom. nostalgiansa nostalgiansa gen. nostalgiansa genitive nostalgiansa nostalgioidensa nostalgioittensa nostalgiainsa rare partitive nostalgiaansa nostalgioitaan nostalgioitansa inessive nostalgiassaan nostalgiassansa nostalgioissaan nostalgioissansa elative nostalgiastaan nostalgiastansa nostalgioistaan nostalgioistansa illative nostalgiaansa nostalgioihinsa adessive nostalgiallaan nostalgiallansa nostalgioillaan nostalgioillansa ablative nostalgialtaan nostalgialtansa nostalgioiltaan nostalgioiltansa allative nostalgialleen nostalgiallensa nostalgioilleen nostalgioillensa essive nostalgianaan nostalgianansa nostalgioinaan nostalgioinansa translative nostalgiakseen nostalgiaksensa nostalgioikseen nostalgioiksensa abessive nostalgiattaan nostalgiattansa nostalgioittaan nostalgioittansa instructive — — comitative — nostalgioineen nostalgioinensa

Related terms

• nostalgikko
• nostalginen
• nostalgisoida

Further reading

• “nostalgia”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[6] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 3 July 2023

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from English nostalgia.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /nostalˈɡia/ [nos.t̪alˈɡi.a]
• Rhymes: -a
• Syllabification: nos‧tal‧gi‧a

Noun

nostalgia (plural nostalgia-nostalgia)

1. nostalgia

Further reading

• “nostalgia”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin nostalgia, coined from Ancient Greek νόστος (nóstos, “returning home”) + ἄλγος (álgos, “pain”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nos.talˈd͡ʒi.a/
• Rhymes: -ia
• Hyphenation: no‧stal‧gì‧a

Noun

nostalgia f (plural nostalgie)

1. nostalgia, homesickness, longing

Derived terms

• nostalgico

Anagrams

• angolasti, losangati, stagliano

Malay

Etymology

Borrowed from English nostalgia.

Pronunciation

• (Literary Standard) IPA^(key): /nosˈtalɡia/ [nosˈt̪al.ɡja]
  • Rhymes: -alɡja

• (Southern Peninsular Malaysia Standard) IPA^(key): /nosˈtald͡ʒia/ [nosˈt̪al.d͡ʒja] (English-based)
  • Rhymes: -ald͡ʒja
• Hyphenation: nos‧tal‧gia

Noun

nostalgia (Jawi spelling نوستلݢيا, plural nostalgia-nostalgia or nostalgia²)

1. nostalgia

Further reading

• "nostalgia" in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu (PRPM) [Malay Literary Reference Centre (PRPM)] (in Malay), Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017
  (also see "nostalgia" at PRPM first version)

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from French nostalgie, from New Latin nostalgia, from Ancient Greek νόστος (nóstos) + ἄλγος (álgos).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɔsˈtal.ɡja/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -alɡja
• Syllabification: nos‧tal‧gia

Noun

nostalgia f

1. nostalgia (yearning for the past)

Declension

Declension of nostalgia

	singular	plural
nominative	nostalgia	nostalgie
genitive	nostalgii	nostalgii/nostalgij (archaic)
dative	nostalgii	nostalgiom
accusative	nostalgię	nostalgie
instrumental	nostalgią	nostalgiami
locative	nostalgii	nostalgiach
vocative	nostalgio	nostalgie

Derived terms

adjective

• nostalgiczny

nouns

• nostalgiczka
• nostalgik

Related terms

adverb

• nostalgicznie

Further reading

• “nostalgia”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[7] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “nostalgia”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[8] (in Polish)

Portuguese

Etymology

From New Latin nostalgia, coined from Ancient Greek νόστος (nóstos, “returning home”) + ἄλγος (álgos, “pain”).

Cognate with Galician nostalxia.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /nos.tawˈʒi.ɐ/ [nos.taʊ̯ˈʒi.ɐ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /nos.tawˈʒi.ɐ/ [nos.taʊ̯ˈʒi.ɐ]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /noʃ.tawˈʒi.ɐ/ [noʃ.taʊ̯ˈʒi.ɐ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /nuʃ.talˈʒi.ɐ/ [nuʃ.taɫˈʒi.ɐ]

• Hyphenation: nos‧tal‧gi‧a

Noun

nostalgia f (plural nostalgias)

1. nostalgia (yearning for the past)

Related terms

• nostálgico

Further reading

• “nostalgia”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “nostalgia”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin nostalgia, coined from Ancient Greek νόστος (nóstos, “returning home”) + ἄλγος (álgos, “pain”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nosˈtalxja/ [nosˈt̪al.xja]
• Rhymes: -alxja
• Syllabification: nos‧tal‧gia

Noun

nostalgia f (plural nostalgias)

1. nostalgia

   Synonym: añoranza

Related terms

• nostálgico

Further reading

• “nostalgia”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025