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Wistful Has a Wishful History
We see you there, dear reader, gazing silently up at the moon, heart aching to know the history of wistful, as if it could be divined on the lunar surface. And we’d like to ease your melancholy by telling you that the knowledge you seek—nay, pine for—is closer at hand. But the etymology of wistful, while intriguing, is not entirely clear. It’s thought that the word is a combination of wistly, a now-obsolete word meaning “intently” and, perhaps, the similar-sounding wishful. Wistly, in turn, may have come from whistly, an old term meaning “silently” or “quietly.” What’s more certain is that our modern wistful is a great word to describe someone full of pensive yearning, or something inspiring such yearning.
Examples of wistful in a Sentence
Anthony Reardon, Kansas City Star, 25 Feb. 2026
Riley finally is coming home, returning Sunday with the unveiling of a long overdue statue in whose bronze reflection a couple of wistful realizations can be found.
—Los Angeles Times, 23 Feb. 2026
Cabrera was upbeat but hardly turned reflective or wistful.
—Cody Stavenhagen, New York Times, 23 Feb. 2026
The veteran songwriter’s first record in seven years is a wistful account of motherhood, gratitude, and grief.
—Zach Schonfeld, Pitchfork, 20 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for wistful
Cite this Entry
“Wistful.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wistful. Accessed 27 Feb. 2026.
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