sorry

English Online Dictionary. What means sorry‎? What does sorry mean?

English

Etymology

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. Despite the similarity in form and meaning, not related to sorrow. Equivalent to sore + -y.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɒ.ɹi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɑɹ.i/, /ˈsɔɹ.i/
  • Homophone: sari (some accents)
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔːɹi/, /ˈsoːɹi/, /ˈsɒɹi/
  • (Ottawa Valley) IPA^(key): [ˈsɔ.ɹɪ], [ˈsoːɹɪ]
• Rhymes: -ɒɹi

Adjective

sorry (comparative sorrier, superlative sorriest)

1. (of a person) Regretful or apologetic for one's actions.

   Synonyms: apologetic, compunctious, contrite, penitent, regretful, remorseful, repentant

3. (of a person) Grieved or saddened, especially by the loss of something or someone.

   Synonyms: heavy-hearted, melancholy, mournful

4. Poor, pitifully sad or regrettable.

5. Pathetic; contemptibly inadequate.

Derived terms

Translations

Interjection

sorry

1. Expresses regret, remorse, or sorrow.

   Synonym: (slang, chiefly Britain) soz

2. Used as a request for someone to repeat something not heard or understood clearly.

   Synonyms: I beg your pardon?, I'm sorry?, say again, come again, (US) excuse me?; see also Thesaurus:say again

3. Used to correct oneself in speech.

4. Said as a request to pass somebody.

   Synonym: excuse me

Usage notes

• A typically sarcastic use slows down the rhythm and stresses the final syllable, as /ˌsɒˈɹiːː/. This is often spelled as sorree or emphatically as something like SOR-REE!! in print.

Descendants

Translations

Noun

sorry (plural sorries or sorrys)

1. The act of saying sorry; an apology.

Translations

Verb

sorry (third-person singular simple present sorries, present participle sorrying, simple past and past participle sorried)

1. (intransitive, transitive, rare) To feel sorry (for someone).

Related terms

• sorrow
• sorrowful

References

• “sorry, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Further reading

• “sorry”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “sorry”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Chinese

Etymology

From English sorry.

Pronunciation

Cantonese: IPA^(key): /sɔ⁵⁵ ɹi²¹/, /sɔ⁵⁵ li²¹/, /sɔ⁵⁵ wi²¹/

Interjection

sorry

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, Singapore Hokkien, Penang Hokkien, colloquial) sorry

Synonyms

Czech

Etymology

Derived from English sorry.

Interjection

sorry

1. (informal) sorry (I apologize)

   Synonym: See also pardon

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English sorry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔ.ri/
• Hyphenation: sor‧ry

Interjection

sorry

1. sorry (expressing regret)

   Je hebt me heel erg pijn gedaan toen je dat zei. — Sorry, dat is nooit mijn bedoeling geweest.

   You really hurt me a lot when you said that. — Sorry, that was never my intention.

2. sorry, pardon, excuse me

   Je stond op mijn voet! — Oh, sorry!

   You were standing on my foot! — Oh, sorry!

Synonyms

• (expressing regret): het spijt me
• (pardon): pardon, excuseer

Derived terms

• sorrycultuur
• sorrydemocratie
• sorry, mijn naam is Corrie

Related terms

• zeer

Descendants

• → Papiamentu: sòri

German

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English sorry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɔʁi/, /ˈsɔri/
• Hyphenation: sor‧ry

Interjection

sorry

1. (colloquial) sorry (expressing regret)

   Synonym: Entschuldigung

Further reading

• “sorry” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “sorry” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “sorry” in Duden online

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Anglo-Norman soree.

Noun

sorry

1. alternative form of sorre

Etymology 2

From Old English sāriġ.

Noun

sorry

1. (Late ME) alternative form of sory

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English sorry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔ.rɘ/
• Rhymes: -ɔrɘ
• Syllabification: so‧rry

Interjection

sorry

1. (informal) sorry! (expressing regret)

   Synonym: przepraszam

Further reading

• sorry in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English sorry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsori/ [ˈso.ri]
• Rhymes: -ori
• Syllabification: so‧rry

Interjection

sorry

1. (informal) sorry (expressing regret)

   Synonym: perdón

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Swedish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English sorry.

Interjection

sorry

1. (informal, casual) sorry (expressing regret)

Usage notes

• As with many English expressions in Swedish; the word sorry has much lower weight and meaning than its counterpart förlåt (“sorry”).

Synonyms

• förlåt (“sorry”)
• ledsen (“sorry”), (casual) lessen (“sorry”)

Anagrams

• syror

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English sory, from Old English sāriġ, from Proto-West Germanic *sairag.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔriː/

Noun

sorry

1. sorrow

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 69