mono no aware means A wistful awareness of the impermanence or transience of things. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
mono no aware is pronounced /ˌmɒnəʊ nəʊ əˈwɑːɹeɪ/.
Why “mono no aware” is a great word
MONO NO AWARE — [Noun] A wistful awareness of the impermanence of things, evoking a gentle sadness at their passing. From Japanese 物の哀れ (mono no aware), literally "the pathos of things" or "the sensitivity/perceptiveness to things". Unlike melancholy, a diffuse and self-oriented gloom, or nostalgia, a sentimental longing for a sealed past, mono no aware is an immediate, aesthetic ache for the beauty inherent in the fleeting present. It is the color of cherry blossoms against a grey sky moments before they fall, the scent of rain on dry pavement that vanishes as you breathe it in, and the perfect clarity of a note before it fades into silence—a quiet understanding that to love a thing is to love its end.
noun
- A wistful awareness of the impermanence or transience of things.