ruth
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ruth¹
- /ɹuːθ/ UK
- /ɹʉwθ/ British, Southern, Standard
- /ɹuθ/ US
- /ɹʉːθ/ Australia, New Zealand
- /ɾʉθ/ Scotland
- /ɾɪʊθ/ Wales
- /ɹʉθ/ Northern Ireland
Sounds like Ruth, roof (th-fronting) · Rhymes with -uːθ
Where it comes from
From Middle English ruthe, reuthe, reuþe, reowthe, rewthe (“compassion, pity, sympathy; mercy; grief, sorrow; cause or event of pity or sorrow; lamentation; calamity, trouble; distress; regret, remorse; cruelty, ill treatment”), from reu, reuen (“to feel compassion or pity; to regret, rue; etc.”) + -th, -the (suffix denoting a condition, quality, state of being, etc.), possibly influenced by an early Scandinavian language (compare Old Norse hrygð, hryggð (“affliction, grief, sorrow, ruth”), from the Proto-Germanic word indicated below). Reuen is derived from Old English hrēowan (“to grieve; to regret, rue; to repent”), from Proto-West Germanic *hreuwan (“to cause pain; to regret”), from Proto-Germanic *hrewwaną (“to cause regret, rue; to feel sorrow, grieve”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *krew(H)-, possibly related to Proto-Indo-European *krewh₂- (“blood”) and *krows- (“to fall, beat, break, bruise”). By surface analysis, rue (“to regret; etc.”) + -th (suffix forming abstract nouns from verbs).
noun ruths
-
Sorrow for the misery of another person; compassion, mercy, pity.
The dead mans corps hath made ſome Serpents weépe, / Such rewth may ryſe in beaſts of bloudy race: / And yet can man (which bragges aboue the reſt) / Uſe wracke [vengeance] for rewth? can murder like him beſt?
Similar: commiseration, rue, bowels, compassion, empathy, fellow feeling, mercy, pity, remorse, ruth, sympathy, tenderheartedness · Opposite: unruth
-
Regret, remorse, repentance.
But, what afflicts my peace with keenest ruth, / Is, that I have my inner self abused, / Forgone the home delight of constant truth, / And clear and open soul, so prized in fearless youth.
Similar: contrition, agenbite, remorse, rue, ruth, compunction, guilt, penitence, repentance, self-reproach, sorriness
-
Matter for regret or sorrow; calamity, ruin; also, occasion for regret or sorrow; (countable) an instance of this; a disaster, a pitiful thing.
They ſay it is a ruth to ſee thy louer neede, / But you can ſee me vveepe, but you can ſee me bleede: / And neuer ſhrinke nor ſhame, ne ſhed no teare at all, / You make my vvounds your ſelfe, and fill them vp vvith gall: […]
Similar: hardship, sorrow, affliction, aggrievance, distress, grief, grievance, misery, ruth, sadness, undelight, vexation
-
Distress, misery, sorrow.
High on a hill a goodly Cedar grevve, / Of vvondrous length, and ſtreight proportion, / […] / Shortly vvithin her inmoſt pith there bred / A little vvicked vvorme, perceiu'd of none, / That on her ſap and vitall moyſture fed: / Thenceforth her garland ſo much honoured / Began to die, (O great ruth f
Similar: dejection, unhappiness, blueness, tristesse, mirthlessness, blues, crestfallenness, depression, despondency, distress, dolefulness, downheartedness
Ruth²
- /ɹuːθ/
Sounds like ruth · Rhymes with -uːθ
Where it comes from
From Ruth the Moabite, Hebrew רות, of uncertain origin, possibly meaning "companion". Also associated with the English noun ruth (“compassion”) by Puritans.
proper noun
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A book of the Old Testament and the Hebrew Tanakh.
Similar: Rth.
- The resident of Moab around whom the text centers. And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.
- A female given name from Hebrew. Her face hardened. "I despise pity." "In spite of your name? Ruth is your name, isn't it? Piquant that. Ruth the ruthless."
- A census-designated place in White Pine County, Nevada, United States.
- A census-designated place in Trinity County, California, United States.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: pity, commiseration, pathos, babe ruth, compassion, beauty, mrs, dung, clarence, roy, roth, lui, contrition, regret, sorrow, remorse
Translations
Talk about this word "ruth." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/ruth. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. ruth. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/ruth "ruth." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/ruth.Cite this
@misc{ruth_2026,
title = {ruth},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/ruth},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
