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sorrow

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sorrow¹

  • /ˈsɒɹəʊ/ UK
  • /ˈsɑɹoʊ/ US
  • /ˈsɔɹoʊ/ Canada
  • /ˈsɔɾo/ Scotland
  • /ˈsɔɾou/ Wales

Rhymes with -ɒɹəʊ

Where it comes from

From Middle English sorwe, sorow, sorewe, from Old English sorg, sorh (“care, anxiety, sorrow, grief”), from Proto-West Germanic *sorgu, from Proto-Germanic *surgō (compare West Frisian soarch, Dutch zorg, German Sorge, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian sorg), from Proto-Indo-European *swergʰ- (“watch over, worry; be ill, suffer”) (compare Old Irish serg (“sickness”), Tocharian B sark (“sickness”), Lithuanian sirgti (“be sick”), Sanskrit सूर्क्षति (sū́rkṣati, “worry”). Despite the similarity in form and meaning, not historically related to sorry and sore.

noun sorrows · sorrowe

  1. uncountable unhappiness, woe But sorrow that is couch'd in seeming gladness Is like that mirth fate turns to sudden sadness.

    Similar: dejection, blueness, tristesse, mirthlessness, blues, crestfallenness, depression, despondency, distress, dolefulness, downheartedness, drearihead

  2. countable (usually in plural) An instance or cause of unhappiness. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

    Similar: misfortune, woe, adversity, apocalypse, calamity, catastrophe, disaster, misery, qualm, affliction, aggrievance, distress

verb sorrows · sorrowing · sorrowed · sorrowe

  1. intransitive To feel or express grief. ‘Sorrow not, sir,’ says he, ‘like those without hope.’

    Similar: grieve, mourn, aggrieve, besorrow, condole, darken, engrieve, erme, gloom, grieven, bleed, lament

  2. transitive To feel grief over; to mourn, regret. It is impossible to make a man naturally blind, to conceive that he seeth not; impossible to make him desire to see, and sorrow his defect.

    Similar: bewail, grieve, afterthink, becry, begrieve, bemoan, bemourn, beweep, condole, deplore, elegize, grieven

Sorrow²

Where it comes from

Probably a calque of German Sorge (“sorrow”).

proper noun Sorrows

  1. A surname.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: sorrowfulness, sadness, grieve, grief, ruefulness, regret, sad, sorrowful, grieved, heartache, tragic, grieving, woe, heartbreak, bereavement, mourning

Translations

Every language

noun unhappiness

Españolpesar, pesadumbre, pena, sinsabor, quebranto, acíbar
한국어슬픔 seulpeum, 비애 biae, 시름 sireum
日本語悲しみ kanashimi, 悲哀 hiai
中文悲傷 /悲伤 bēishāng, 悲哀 bēi'āi, 感傷 /感伤 gǎnshāng
हिन्दीदुःख duḥkh, उदासी udāsī, शोक śok, ग़म ġam, अफ़सोस afsos
Portuguêstristeza, mágoa, pesar
Françaispeine, chagrin
DeutschKummer, Traurigkeit, Trauer, Sorge, Kümmernis, Leiden
Italianotristezza, dolore, pena, afflizione, infelicità
Ελληνικάλύπη lýpi, θλίψη thlípsi
Românătristețe, întristare, mâhnire, supărare, nefericire, durere
Русскийго́ре góre, печа́ль pečálʹ, грусть grustʹ, тоска́ toská, уны́ние unýnije, скорбь skorbʹ
Tiếng Việtnỗi buồn, sự buồn
العربيةحُزْن ḥuzn
עבריתצַעַר tsa'ár

noun instance or cause of unhappiness

Русскийго́ре góre, печа́ль pečálʹ, грусть grustʹ

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MLA

"sorrow." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/sorrow. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

sorrow. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/sorrow

Chicago

"sorrow." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/sorrow.

BibTeX
@misc{sorrow_2026,
  title = {sorrow},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/sorrow},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}