sehnsucht /ZEN-zuukst/. noun. Inconsolable longing; longing that cannot be expressed. A compound of the German das Sehnen (fervent yearning) + die Sucht (longing), sehnsucht is often called (wrongly, but you get the idea) untranslatable. See also saudade and hiraeth.
“Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt Weiß, was ich leide!” — “None but the lonely heart can know my sadness!” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, translated by Arthur Westbrook)
“They were not very far off but they were, to children, quite unattainable. They taught me longing—Sehnsucht; made me, for good or ill, and before I was six years old, a votary of the Blue Flower.” (C. S. Lewis, from Surprised by Joy)
Select Synonyms: yen, yearning, craving, aching, longing, desire, pining, coveting.
Elsewhere: Wordnik.