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Meaning & History
Used by the 20th-century writer Jack Kerouac for the title character in his short novel 'Tristessa' (1960), in which case it was intended to be an Anglicization of the Spanish word tristeza meaning "sadness" (from Latin tristis; compare Tristan). It was subsequently used by American rock band The Smashing Pumpkins for 'Tristessa' (1990), the title of which song is a direct allusion to Jack Kerouac's 1960 novella of the same name.