Sorrow

//ˈsɒɹ.əʊ// name, noun, verb

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.
Noun
  1. 1
    unhappiness, woe uncountable

    "But sorrow that is couch'd in seeming gladness Is like that mirth fate turns to sudden sadness."

  2. 2
    something that causes great unhappiness wordnet
  3. 3
    (usually in plural) An instance or cause of unhappiness. countable

    "Parting is such sweet sorrow."

  4. 4
    an emotion of great sadness associated with loss or bereavement wordnet
  5. 5
    sadness associated with some wrong done or some disappointment wordnet
Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    the state of being sad wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To feel or express grief. intransitive

    "‘Sorrow not, sir,’ says he, ‘like those without hope.’"

  2. 2
    feel grief wordnet
  3. 3
    To feel grief over; to mourn, regret. transitive

    "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."

Etymology

Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

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.

Etymology 3

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

Next best steps

Mini challenge

Unscramble this word: sorrow