Nostalgia

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /nɒˈstaldÊ’É™/
• US IPA: /nɑˈstældÊ’É™/, /nɔˈstældÊ’É™/

Origin

From Late Latin nostalgia, from Ancient Greek * νοσταλγία (nostalgia), from νόστος (nostos, "a return home") + ἄλγος (algos, "pain, suffering"). Compare Italian nostalgia and French nostalgie.

Full definition of nostalgia

Noun

1. A longing for home or familiar surroundings; homesickness.
2. A bittersweet yearning for the things of the past.
• 2013-08-16, Oliver Burkeman, This is the cutest article, 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.
3. Reminiscence of the speaker's childhood or younger years.

Derived terms

• nostalgic
• nostalgically