A strong, persistent, wistful yearning.
A strong, persistent, wistful yearning — especially for something distant, absent, or unattainable.
The family's bittersweet yearning, distinguished by its object being absent or out of reach, giving it a tinge of sadness the brighter members lack. Where hope and anticipation lean toward a future expected to arrive, longing reaches toward what may never come — desire colored by lack. Gentler and more inward than zeal or enthusiasm, not irritated like impatience nor merely fidgety like restlessness — a deep, sustained, often tender ache. It is the standard English rendering of saudade and Sehnsucht.
A verbal noun from long (v.), Old English langian “to yearn after, grieve for,” literally “to grow long” — the idea that desire or time lengthens. The Old English noun langung meant “longing, weariness, sadness.”
The melancholy coloring is etymologically old: the Old English source langung carried “weariness, sadness, dejection” alongside “longing.” The core sense (yearning, eager desire) has been continuous; the parallel with saudade and Sehnsucht is a modern cross-linguistic observation. No reliable recent-generation shift.