Sorry

How to spell sorry

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce sorry

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does sorry mean?

1. adjectiveFeeling regret, sympathy, or apology about something.

Sorry in a sentence

• She was genuinely sorry for missing the meeting.

• He felt sorry for the family after the flood damaged their home.

Where does sorry come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word comes from the Old English sarig, meaning 'pained' or 'full of sorrow', which was built on the noun sar, the same root that gives us the modern word 'sore'. Despite the obvious overlap in meaning, sorry and sorrow are not actually related by origin; sorrow descends from a separate Germanic root concerning care and anxiety, and the two words simply drifted close together in sound and sense over the centuries. The spelling shifted toward the modern 'sorry' as the long vowel of sar shortened, which is why the link to 'sore' is no longer obvious to the eye. By the medieval period the word had broadened from purely physical pain to the feeling of regret and apology we use today. The doubled r is the main spelling point to remember, since the single-syllable feel of the word tempts writers toward a single r.

How the word is built

• sor- (from Old English sarig: pained, grieved, related to sore)
• -y (adjective suffix)

Words that sound like sorry

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• sari: A traditional garment of the Indian subcontinent, made from a long length of cloth wrapped around the body and draped over one shoulder.