Meanings
nounhiraeth (uncountable)
- rareuncountableA feeling of homesickness, longing or yearning for something comfortable or familiar, especially in a Welsh context.
So this hiraeth is good in some sense , although you feel the evil of it perhaps the moment that I am writing this.
1927, Richard Humphyreys, The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, volume 26, Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion (London, England), page 1161 more example
Biblical hiraeth - the longing for an idealized biblical home that may have never existed - intersects with authenticity and the hyperreality of the theme park.
2020, Paul Thomas, Storytelling the Bible at the Creation Museum, Ark Encounter, and Museum of the Bible, Bloomsbury Publishing
Origin
- Welshhiraeth“longing, nostalgia”
- Englishhiraeth
Borrowed from Welsh hiraeth (“longing, nostalgia”).
More words from Welsh
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
hiraeth. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hiraeth
MLA
“hiraeth.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hiraeth. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hiraeth,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hiraeth.
Source: hiraeth on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.