Definition

1. Verb (Literary, Archaic):
   • To feel nostalgia; to be nostalgically moved: To experience a deep, sentimental longing or wistful affection for a person, event, or period from the past.
   • To have melancholic reflections; to be pensively moved: To be touched by a thoughtful, often sad, recollection of times gone by, accompanied by a sense of tender regret or poetic sentiment.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Đọc lại những bức thư cũ, lòng ông chợt dâng lên một nỗi cảm hoài. (Rereading the old letters, a feeling of nostalgia suddenly welled up in him.)
  • Bài thơ ấy là tiếng lòng cảm hoài về một thời đã xa. (That poem is a heartfelt, melancholic reflection on a bygone era.)
  • Phong cảnh tiêu điều gợi trong lữ khách mối cảm hoài khôn tả. (The desolate scenery evoked in the traveler an indescribable sense of pensive melancholy.)

Advanced Usage

• As a nominalized feeling ("nỗi cảm hoài"): The term is often preceded by "nỗi" (a feeling/sentiment) to mean "a feeling of nostalgia" or "melancholic sentiment."
  • Nỗi cảm hoài ấy cứ vấn vương trong ông suốt những ngày tháng cuối đời. (That feeling of nostalgic melancholy lingered in him throughout his final days.)

Variants and Related Words

• Hoài cảm (Verb): A less common, synonymous variant meaning to feel nostalgic or sentimental.
  • Ông hoài cảm về quê hương. (He feels nostalgic for his homeland.)
• Hoài niệm (Verb/Noun): To reminisce; reminiscence. This is a more modern and commonly used term for nostalgic recollection.
  • Những ký ức đẹp đẽ để hoài niệm. (Beautiful memories to reminisce about.)

Synonyms

• To feel nostalgic: To yearn for the past.
• To reminisce: To indulge in enjoyable recollection of past events.
• To be wistful: Having or showing a feeling of vague or regretful longing.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Cảm hoài về dĩ vãng: To be nostalgically moved about the past.
  • Bài hát này khiến tôi cảm hoài về dĩ vãng. (This song makes me feel nostalgic about the past.)
• Tâm trạng cảm hoài: A state of nostalgic or pensive mood.
  • Một tâm trạng cảm hoài bao trùm lên cả khung cảnh. (A nostalgic mood enveloped the entire scene.)

1. (văn chương, cũ) Feel nostalgia; have a touching recollection of the past