sorrow

B1 Topic:Emotions & Feelings

Also spelled sorrers and sorrowin

US /ˈsɑɹoʊ/ UK /ˈsɒɹəʊ/ See IPA manual

Freq #4757

Meanings

1

noun
A deep feeling of sadness, especially after a loss.

We felt tremendous sorrow at their loss.
2

noun
An event or thing that causes great unhappiness.

The loss of her job was just one of many sorrows that year.
3

verb
To feel or express deep sadness.

They sorrowed for the friends they had lost in the war.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a deep feeling of sadness,... grief sadness dejection distress

2 noun · an event or thing that... adversity affliction hardship misery

3 verb · to feel or express deep... grieve lament mourn

Word family

Forms sorrowedsorrowingsorrows

Derived forms besorrowoversorrowseeksorrowsorrow-riddensorrowersorrowful sorrowfully sorrowfulnesssorrowinglysorrowlesssorrowlysorrowsome

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

bitter sorrow
deep sadness that feels especially painful or hard to accept

Adjective + noun

Etymology

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.

sorwe Middle English sorg Old English *sorgu Proto-West Germanic *surgō Proto-Germanic *swergʰ- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Emotions & Feelings

External links

# sorrow

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈsɑɹoʊ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈsɒɹəʊ/
**Frequency rank:** 4757

## Meanings
1. A deep feeling of sadness, especially after a loss.
2. An event or thing that causes great unhappiness.
3. To feel or express deep sadness.

## Examples
- We felt tremendous sorrow at their loss.
- The loss of her job was just one of many sorrows that year.
- They sorrowed for the friends they had lost in the war.

## Derived Forms
- besorrow
- oversorrow
- seeksorrow
- sorrow-ridden
- sorrower
- sorrowful
- sorrowfully
- sorrowfulness
- sorrowingly
- sorrowless
- sorrowly
- sorrowsome

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: sorwe
- Root: sorg
- Root: *sorgu
- Root: *surgō
- Root: *swergʰ-

## Etymology
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.

## AI Etymology
Sorrow is 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. Important forms in the word's history include Middle English sorwe, Old English sorg, Proto-West Germanic *sorgu, Proto-Germanic *surgō, Proto-Indo-European *swergʰ-. In current use it includes senses such as A deep feeling of sadness, especially after a loss and An event or thing that causes great unhappiness.

## Topics
- Emotions & Feelings

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