languid
Meanings
- Of a person or animal, or their body functions: flagging from weakness, or inactive or weak, especially due to illness or tiredness; faint, listless.
- Of a person or their movement: showing a dislike for physical effort; leisurely, unhurried.
- Of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm; apathetic, listless, spiritless, unenthusiastic.
- Of a colour: not bright; dull, muted.
- Of an idea, writing, etc.: dull, uninteresting.
- Of a period of time: characterized by lack of activity; pleasant and relaxed; unstressful.
- Of a thing: lacking energy, liveliness, or strength; inactive, slow-moving, weak.
- Synonym of languet (“a flat plate in (or opposite and below the mouth of) the pipe of an organ”).
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)leg-der. Latin langueō Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Proto-Italic *-iðos Latin -idus Latin languidusder. Middle French languidebor. ▲ Latin languidusbor. English languid Borrowed from Middle French languide (“fatigued, weak; apathetic, indifferent”) (modern French languide), or from its etymon Latin languidus (“faint, weak; dull; slow, sluggish; ill, sick, unwell; (figuratively) inactive, inert, listless”), from langueō (“to be faint or weak; (figuratively) to be idle, inactive, or listless”) (from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leg-, *(s)leh₁g- (“to weaken”)) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’ forming adjectives). Doublet of languish. Cognates * Italian languido (“languid; languishing”) * Portuguese lânguido (“languid; listless”) * Spanish lánguido (“languid, weak”)