Wistfulness is a general feeling of sadness and yearning towards something not present, whether or not you've experienced it before. "He was wistful about the l

Wistfulness is a general feeling of sadness and yearning towards something not present, whether or not you've experienced it before. "He was wistful about the life that could have been his if only he'd said 'yes' when he'd had the chance." Nostalgia is a distinct feeling of want for something in your past, often from your childhood. "His nostalgia for the video games of his youth coloured his perception of how bad they really were." Since you brought it up, and now that I've thought about it for a while, "wistful" seems like it might be a better fit for "saudade", but I'm sure that that word has all sorts of meanings that wistful doesn't have.