regret

Pronunciation

• IPA: /rɪˈɡret/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English regretten, borrowed from Old French regreter (“to long after, bewail, lament the dead”) (variant regrater; modern French regretter),^[2][3][4] from re-, an intensive prefix, and -greter, possibly from a Germanic source such as Frankish,^[2][3] related to Old English grǣtan and Old Norse gráta “to weep” (see greet).^[2][3][5][4] The Century Dictionary, as cited by Etymonline, notes that it is not found in the other Romance languages and has been explained in several ways.^[3] The noun is from French regret, from the verb.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To remember something lost with distress or longing; to mourn: about 1380 in Barnhart, the 14th century in the OED.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The weaker sense, to feel sorry about an event or action, is from 1553.^[6][2] The noun first meant a complaint or lament (1533), now obsolete;^[6][3] sorrow over an outside circumstance is from 1590, and sorrow for something one has done or failed to do from about 1641.^[6][3] Regrets, a polite message declining an invitation, is attested by 1851.^[3][6]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – to mourn something lost.^[2]
• 1533 – the noun, a lament.^[6]
• 1553 – to feel sorry about.^[6]
• 1590 – sorrow at a circumstance.^[6]
• c. 1641 – sorrow for something done.^[6]
• 1851 – regrets, declining an invitation.^[6][3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To feel sorry or disappointed about something one has done or that has happened.
2. To remember with a sense of loss; to mourn.
3. (formal) Used to apologize politely: we regret to inform you.

Noun

1. A feeling of sorrow or disappointment, especially over something done or not done.
2. (regrets) A polite refusal of an invitation.

Word family

• regretter
• regretful
• regretfulness
• regrettingly
• regrettable
• unregretted
• unregretting

Related words

• greet

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press