cafard means depression; melancholy.
Why “cafard” is a great word
A profound state of depressive apathy and oppressive melancholy, borrowed from French cafard, literally meaning 'cockroach', which is probably from Arabic kafir ('unbeliever, infidel') via the sense of 'hypocrite'. Unlike the blues, which suggests a transient low mood, or lethargy, which describes mere physical languor, cafard is the heavy, existential gloom that settles in for residency. It is the gray afternoon that never ends, the silence that swallows all sound, and the unseen insect scuttling in the walls of the mind—the most desolate landscapes are often those within.
Etymology
Borrowed from French cafard.
noun
- Depression; melancholy.e.g.“That's the worst trouble with the soldiers in the trenches — nothing to do. It gives them the cafards, the black butterflies, the blue devils, the jimjams, the hump.” — 1918, Elizabeth Frazer, Old Glory and Verdun, page 169:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- dejection 57% match — A state of melancholy or depression; low spirits, the blues. vs cafard →
- carking 55% match — Wearying, distressing (of care, or similar words). vs cafard →
- depresh 54% match — Depression, melancholy. vs cafard →
- melancholia 54% match — Deep sadness or gloom; melancholy vs cafard →
- acedia 53% match — Spiritual or mental sloth and the feeling it provokes; apathy or indifference; a lack of care or interest and the resultant avoidance of duties; a bored melancholy leading to desperation, restlessness and anxiety. vs cafard →
- carkingly 53% match — In a carking manner; so as to weary or distress. vs cafard →
- blahs 51% match — A feeling of boredom and a lack of motivation; depression. vs cafard →
- blues 50% match — A feeling of sadness or depression. vs cafard →