languor

Etymology 1

The noun is derived from Middle English langore, langour (“disease, illness; misery, sadness; suffering; condition or event causing sadness, suffering, etc.; unwholesomeness; idleness, inertia; depression, self-disgust; expression of grief”) [and other forms], from Middle French languer, langueur, langour, and Anglo-Norman langor, langour, langur, Old French langueur, languour (“disease, illness; suffering; emotional fatigue, sadness; listlessness; stagnation”) (modern French langueur (“languor”)), and from their etymon Latin languor (“faintness, feebleness; languor; apathy”), from languēre, the present active infinitive of langueō (“to feel faint or weak; (figurative) to be idle, inactive; to be listless”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leg-, *(s)leh₁g-. The English word is cognate with Catalan llangor, Italian languore (“faintness, weakness; languor”), langore (obsolete), Old Occitan langor (modern Occitan langor), Portuguese langor, languor (obsolete), Spanish langor.

noun

1. (uncountable) A state of the body or mind caused by exhaustion or disease and characterized by a languid or weary feeling; lassitude; (countable) an instance of this.
   languor of convalescence
2. (uncountable) Melancholy caused by lovesickness, sadness, etc.; (countable) an instance of this.
3. (uncountable) Dullness, sluggishness; lack of vigour; stagnation.
   From languor she passed to the lightest vivacity; her temper became merry and wild in the extreme; she was all at once a tease, a tomboy, and a witch. 1923, Elinor Wylie, “The Serpent in Persepolis”, in Jennifer Lorn: A Sedate Extravaganza.[…], New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC, book 3 (The Prince), page 266
4. (uncountable) Listless indolence or inactivity, especially if enjoyable or relaxing; dreaminess; (countable) an instance of this.
   Repose! The very word has a nostalgic ring to it, conjuring up a vanished world of pale solitude, gentle distances, summer vistas, languour, and lovely women … 1984, Marco Vassi, Lying Down: A Horizontal Worldview, Santa Barbara, Calif.: Capra Press, page 65
5. (uncountable) Heavy humidity and stillness of the air.
   [A] certain languor in the air hinted at an early summer. 1957, James Purdy, The New Yorker, volume 33, New York, N.Y.: New Yorker Magazine Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page clxvi
   The evening was mild, with a certain languor in the air. 2018, Georges Simenon, translated by William Hobson, Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses, London: Penguin Books
6. (uncountable, obsolete) Sorrow; suffering; also, enfeebling disease or illness; (countable, obsolete) an instance of this.

Etymology 2

The verb is derived from Middle English langouren (“to be ill; to languish, suffer; to cause to suffer”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman langurer and Middle French langorer, langorir, langourer (“to languish; to be languorous”), from Old French languerer, from langueur (“disease, illness; suffering; emotional fatigue, sadness; listlessness; stagnation”); see further at etymology 1 above. Later uses of the verb have been influenced by the noun.

verb

1. (intransitive) To languish.