Feelings, more precisely

The list that fills the space between glad and sad. Near the end sits désabusé, and the English word that matches it letter for letter is the wrong one. « Disabused » is tied to a single object and a preposition — one is disabused of a particular notion, on a particular afternoon — and it never describes a settled outlook. French désabusé describes exactly that: un ton désabusé, un sourire désabusé, somebody who has stopped expecting. The English word for it is « disillusioned ». Behind the mismatch sits a second one, in the root. French abuser quelqu’un means to deceive somebody, not to mistreat them, so désabuser is literally to un-deceive — to take the illusion away, which is what the English verb « disabuse » still does. English « to abuse » went the other way, towards injury, so the two halves no longer belong together: « disabuse » does not undo « abuse », and neither of them translates désabusé.