Whistful

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having a soft, dreamy quality tinged with unfulfilled desire or gentle regret
2. Marked by a tender, wistful longing for something absent or unattainable
3. Characterized by a pensively sentimental wish or quiet aching for what might be

Etymology: "Whistful" is a plain formation: it combines "whist," meaning silent or hushed, with the suffix "-ful," which means full of or characterised by. Something whistful is therefore full of quietness, a stillness that feels almost like a held breath. The older adjective "whist" is itself an interjection-turned-adjective, used to call for silence, and it is the same root that gives the verb "to whist," meaning to fall silent. Attaching "-ful" to it produces a word that describes a mood or atmosphere rather than a sound.