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Added 9 October 2026

sorry

/ˈsɒɹi/ adjective

In Latin: lamento Wiktionary

adjective Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about sorry at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Feeling or expressing regret or sorrow or a sense of loss over something done or undone.
felt regretful over his vanished youth
Bad; unfortunate.
my finances were in a deplorable state
Without merit; of little or no value or use.
a sorry horse

Origin

From Middle English sory, from Old English sāriġ (“feeling or expressing grief, sorry, grieved, sorrowful, sad, mournful, bitter”), from Proto-West Germanic *sairag, from Proto-Germanic *sairagaz (“sad”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂yro (“hard, rough, painful”). Cognate with Scots sairie (“sad, grieved”), Saterland Frisian seerich (“sore, inflamed”), West Frisian searich (“sad, sorry”), Low German serig (“sick, scabby”), German dialectal sehrig (“sore, sad, painful”), Swedish sårig. By surface analysis, sor(e) + -y. Unrelated to sorrow despite the similarity in form and meaning.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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