Retrouvailles

French: the joy of reuniting with someone after a long time.

Family Untranslatable
Valence strongly positive
Arousal moderate activation
Intensity Moderate

French: the joy of reuniting with someone after a long time. The body holds this signal first, often before the mind has named what is happening. Retrouvailles is a French term that captures something many languages do not have a single word for.

Where retrouvailles lives in the body

Chest
Heaviness, ache, or pounding
Strong
Face
Heat, flush, expression building
Moderate
Arms
Energy or heaviness
Moderate

Related emotions

A note on this entry: The data on this page (definition, body sensations, valence, arousal, related emotions) reflects a structured reference for retrouvailles. A full long-form entry is being added gradually. If you have research, a translation, or a body-mapping correction to suggest, please get in touch.