triste

See also: Triste, triște, and třísté

English

Alternative forms

• trist

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English trist, triste (-e form is less common), borrowed from Old French trist, triste, from Latin trīstis (“sad, sorrowful”). Re-borrowed late 18c. (as “dull, uninteresting”) as a French word in English and often spelled triste.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹɪst/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophones: trist, tryst
• Rhymes: -ɪst

Adjective

triste (comparative more triste, superlative most triste)

1. (rare) Sad; sorrowful; gloomy.

   Synonyms: miserable, unhappy; see also Thesaurus:sad

   • 1877, R. Elton Smilie, chapter XXIX, in The Manatitlans; or A Record of Scientific Explorations in the Andean La Plata, S. A., Buenos Ayres: Calla Derécho, Imprenta De Razon, pages 399–400:

     He said, he wanted them to take us to Heraclea that we might be educated so that we would be always good, and could be present with him and mamma although absent in body, which would keep them from feeling sad and lonely. But we could see that mamma and he were very, very triste. This made us sorry. So he talked to us of all you had written of the happiness of the people here, because they were truly good and pure in their love toward each other, without selfish concealments; then we were glad and wanted to be with you.

Derived terms

• tristeness, tristness
• tristeful, tristful

Further reading

• “triste”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “triste”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “triste”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• streit, Tetris, titers, triest, titres, triset, Strite, tirest, sitter, Sitter, trites, tretis

Danish

Adjective

triste

1. plural and definite singular attributive of trist

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French triste, borrowed from Latin trīstis. Old French originally had trist, inherited from Vulgar Latin trīstus, a variant of the same word.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʁist/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Homophone: tristes
• Hyphenation: triste
• Rhymes: -ist

Adjective

triste (plural tristes)

1. sad

   Synonyms: chagriné, déçu, désappointé, désenchanté, malheureux

   Antonyms: béat, bienheureux, comblé, content, enchanté, épanoui, gai, heureux, joyeux, ravi, réjoui, satisfait

Derived terms

• attrister
• avoir l’alcool triste
• triste sire
• tristement
• tristesse

Descendants

• Louisiana Creole: tris
• → Danish: trist
• → Dutch: triest
• → English: triste
• →? Franco-Provençal: tristo
• → Norwegian Bokmål: trist
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: trist
• → Swedish: trist
• → German: trist

See also

• lamentable
• maussade
• misérable
• morne

Further reading

• “triste”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• titres

Galician

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese triste, presumably a borrowing from Latin trīstis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɾiste/ [ˈt̪ɾis̺.t̪ɪ]
• Rhymes: -iste
• Hyphenation: tris‧te

Adjective

triste m or f (plural tristes)

1. sad, unhappy

   Antonym: alegre

Derived terms

• tristemente

Related terms

• tristeza
• tristura

Further reading

• “triste”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

triste

1. inflection of trist:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Interlingua

Adjective

triste (comparative plus triste, superlative le plus triste)

1. sad

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin trīstis. Compare tristo, inherited from Vulgar Latin trīstus, from the same source.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtri.ste/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iste
• Hyphenation: trì‧ste

Adjective

triste (plural tristi, superlative tristissimo)

1. sad, unhappy, bleak

   Antonym: allegro

Derived terms

• rattristare
• tristemente
• tristezza

Related terms

• tristizia
• tristo

References

• triste in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Ladino

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin trīstis. Compare the Old Spanish tristo.

Adjective

triste (Hebrew spelling טריסטי)

1. sad (unhappy)

   Synonym: atristado

   Antonym: felis

   • 1940, La boz de Türkiye‎^[1], numbers 11–34, page 280:

     De la lejura, una boz triste y quejosa nos parviene, del fondo del Nuevo Mundo, un eco vibrante de amargura llega a nos, penetrando en las entrañas de nuestro corazon.

     From the distance, a sad and weeping voice reaches us, from the New World’s foundation, a vibrant echo of bitterness arrives our way, penetrating the depths of our heart.

Related terms

• tristamente
• tristeza

Latin

Etymology 1

Adverb

trīste (not comparable)

1. sadly

Etymology 2

Adjective

trīste

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of trīstis

References

• “triste”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “triste”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• triste in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) an evil omen; presage of ill: omen infaustum, triste
    

Norman

Etymology

Inherited from Old French triste, borrowed from Latin trīstis.

Adjective

triste m or f

1. (Jersey) sad

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

triste

1. definite singular of trist
2. plural of trist

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

triste

1. definite singular of trist
2. plural of trist

Old French

Alternative forms

• tirst (< VL. trīstus)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin trīstis.

Adjective

triste m (oblique and nominative feminine singular triste)

1. sad

Related terms

• tristor

Descendants

• French: triste
  • → English: triste
• Norman: triste

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

Derived from Latin trīstis.

Adjective

triste

1. sad (saddened)
   • 1450, Gomes Eanes de Zurara, “Como o Autor falla nas grandes diuisoẽs que atuia antre os mouros da cidade, e das cousas q̃ acontecerom no outro anno passado” (chapter Lviij), in Cronica de tomada da Cidade de Cepta por Elrey dom Joaõ o primº, pages 123v–124r:

     […] mas aquelle / Almocadem nunqua falou palaura, antes meteo as maos de sob sua aljuba, que trazia, e a contenenca m̃ triste, e os olhos, baixos contra a aterra sospirando muito amiude se leixou estar acerqua de duas horas, sem nunca dar nehuã reposta a cousa que lhe preguntassem.

     But that Almocadem never said a word; earlier he put his hands beneath his jubbah, which he was bringing, and he has a very sad appearance: the eyes [looking] down on the earth; sighing very often; around two hours he ceased standing, without ever giving any response to whatever they asked him.

Descendants

• Galician: triste
• Portuguese: triste

References

• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “triste”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “triste”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Manuel Ferreiro (2014–2025) “triste”, in Universo Cantigas. Edición crítica da poesía medieval galego-portuguesa (in Galician), A Coruña: University of A Coruña, →ISSN

Portuguese

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese triste, presumably a borrowing from Latin trīstis.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈtɾis.t͡ʃi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈtɾis.t͡ʃi/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈtɾiʃ.t͡ʃi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈtɾis.te/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈtɾiʃ.tɨ/

• (Northeast Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈtɾiʃ.ti/
• Hyphenation: tris‧te

Adjective

triste m or f (plural tristes, comparable, comparative mais triste, superlative o mais triste or tristíssimo, diminutive tristinho, augmentative tristão)

1. (of a person) sad; unhappy; down

   Synonym: infeliz

   Eles estavam tristes porque o inverno começou. ― They were sad because winter had begun.

2. (of something) sad (causing sadness)

   Era um filme bastante triste. ― It was quite a sad film.

3. (of a person) disappointed

   Synonyms: decepcionado, desapontado

   Estou muito triste com você. ― I’m really disappointed with you.

4. (of a situation) lamentable; pitiful

   Synonyms: vergonhoso, lamentável

   A situação das escolas é triste. ― The situation of the schools is lamentable.

Derived terms

• tristemente
• tristonho

Related terms

• tristeza

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈtris.te]

Adjective

triste f pl or n pl

1. nominative/accusative feminine/neuter plural of trist

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin trīstis. Compare the Old Spanish tristo, inherited from Vulgar Latin trīstus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɾiste/ [ˈt̪ɾis.t̪e]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iste
• Syllabification: tris‧te

Adjective

triste m or f (masculine and feminine plural tristes, superlative tristísimo)

1. sad, saddened, blue, gloomy, unhappy, joyless, triste
2. dismal, dreary, glum, miserable, melancholy
3. sorrowful, mournful
4. forlorn
5. upsetting, saddening
6. dull

Antonyms

• alegre

Derived terms

• entristecer
• tristemente
• tristeza
• tristón
• tristura

Further reading

• “triste”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Swedish

Adjective

triste

1. definite natural masculine singular of trist

Anagrams

• istret, sitter