sorrowful

English

Etymology

From Middle English sorweful, from Old English sorhful, sorgful (“full of care; anxious; sorrowful”), from Proto-Germanic *surgafullaz (“full of care; anxious”), equivalent to sorrow +‎ -ful. Cognate with Old High German sorgfol (“careful; anxious”), Norwegian sorgfull (“sorrowful”), Icelandic sorgfullur (“lamentable”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔɹoʊfəl/, /ˈsɔɹəfəl/
• IPA^(key): /ˈsɑɹoʊfəl/, /ˈsɑɹəfəl/
• IPA^(key): /ˈsɒɹəʊfəl/, /ˈsɒɹəfəl/
• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔɹɐʉfɘl/, /ˈsɔɹɘfɘl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sor‧row‧ful

Adjective

sorrowful (comparative more sorrowful, superlative most sorrowful)

1. (of a person) exhibiting sorrow; dejected; distraught.
2. Producing sorrow; causing grief.

   sorrowful accident

   • 1900, L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Chapter 23

     She threw her arms around the Lion's neck and kissed him, patting his big head tenderly. Then she kissed the Tin Woodman, who was weeping in a way most dangerous to his joints. But she hugged the soft, stuffed body of the Scarecrow in her arms instead of kissing his painted face, and found she was crying herself at this sorrowful parting from her loving comrades.

Synonyms

• mournful, lamentable, grievous
• See also Thesaurus:sad
• See also Thesaurus:lamentable

Translations

full of sorrow

• Arabic: مُحْزَن (muḥzan)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 悲哀 (zh) (bēi'āi), 悲痛 (zh) (bēitòng), 悲傷／悲伤 (zh) (bēishāng), 悲伤 (zh) (bēishāng), 哀愁 (zh) (āichóu)

• Cornish: ahwerek, moredhek
• Czech: smutný (cs) m, truchlící
• Finnish: surullinen (fi)
• French: triste (fr), douloureux (fr)
• German: betrübt (de), kummervoll, sorgenvoll, traurig (de)
• Irish: aiféalach
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 痛ましい (ja) (いたましい, itamashii), 悲しい (ja) (かなしい, kanashii)
• Maori: tuarea, aroaroā
• Old English: ċeariġ, ġeōmor
• Persian: غمناک (fa) (ğamnâk)
• Polish: smutny (pl) m
• Portuguese: magoado (pt) m
• Russian: печа́льный (ru) (pečálʹnyj), гру́стный (ru) (grústnyj), (dolorous) ско́рбный (ru) (skórbnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: brònach
• Spanish: triste (es)

producing sorrow

• Finnish: surullinen (fi), valitettava (fi)
• French: attristant (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Georgian: საცოდავი (sacodavi)
• Middle English: hevysum

Further reading

• “sorrowful”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “sorrowful”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.