See also: Rue, Ruë, ruë, rué, rûe, rüë, ru'e, rue-, and

EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle English rewe, reowe, from Old English hrēow (sorrow, regret, penitence, repentance, penance), from Proto-West Germanic *hreuwu (pain, sadness, regret, repentance). Compare German reuen (to regret, to repent).

NounEdit

rue (uncountable)

  1. (archaic or dialectal) Sorrow; repentance; regret.
  2. (archaic or dialectal) Pity; compassion.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

From Middle English rewen, ruwen, ruen, reowen, from Old English hrēowan (to rue; make sorry; grieve), perhaps influenced by Old Norse hryggja (to distress, grieve), from Proto-Germanic *hrewwaną (to sadden; repent).

VerbEdit

rue (third-person singular simple present rues, present participle ruing or rueing, simple past and past participle rued)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To cause to repent of sin or regret some past action.
  2. (obsolete, transitive) To cause to feel sorrow or pity.
  3. (transitive) To repent of or regret (some past action or event); to wish that a past action or event had not taken place.
    I rued the day I crossed paths with her.
    • 1614–1615, Homer, “(please specify the book number)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. [], London: [] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, [], volume (please specify the book number), London: John Russell Smith, [], 1857, →OCLC:
      I wept to see, and rued it from my heart.
    • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 4:
      Thy will chose freely what it now so justly rues.
    • 2009, David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race:
      And feminization of the homeland is something to be rued, while the feminized humiliation of the enemy for the sake of the fatherland is cause for commendation and celebration.
    • 2009, Erica James, It's The Little Things:
      As far as they were concerned, he must be ruing the day he ever met Sally.
    • 2012, Joy Fielding, Still Life:
      And was the fact she was no longer losing large chunks of time something to be celebrated or something to be rued?
    • 2014, Gary Meehan, True Fire:
      “If we get in a fight, you'll be ruing your lack of training.”
    • 2017, Lorde (lyrics and music), “Writer in the Dark”:
      Bet you rue the day you kissed a writer in the dark
  4. (archaic, intransitive) To feel compassion or pity.
    • Late 14th century Geoffrey Chaucer, ‘The Franklin's Tale’, Canterbury Tales
      Madame, reweth upon my peynes smerte
    • 1842, Nicholas Ridley, The Life of Nicholas Ridley
      which stirred men's hearts to rue upon them
  5. (archaic, intransitive) To feel sorrow or regret.
Usage notesEdit
TranslationsEdit

Etymology 3Edit

 
Rue (plant)

From Middle English rue, from Anglo-Norman ruwe, Old French rue, from Latin rūta, from Ancient Greek ῥυτή (rhutḗ).

NounEdit

rue (plural rues)

  1. Any of various perennial shrubs of the genus Ruta, especially the herb Ruta graveolens (common rue), formerly used in medicines.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit

Further readingEdit

AnagramsEdit

ChuukeseEdit

NumeralEdit

rue

  1. twenty

FrenchEdit

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Old French rue, developed figuratively from Latin rūga (wrinkle).

NounEdit

rue f (plural rues)

  1. street, road
Derived termsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

From Old French rue, rude, from Latin rūta, from Ancient Greek ῥυτή (rhutḗ).

NounEdit

rue f (plural rues)

  1. rue (the plant)

Etymology 3Edit

From ruer.

VerbEdit

rue

  1. inflection of ruer:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further readingEdit

KabuverdianuEdit

VerbEdit

rue

  1. gossip

ReferencesEdit

  • Gonçalves, Manuel (2015) Capeverdean Creole-English dictionary, →ISBN

LatinEdit

VerbEdit

rue

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of ruō

Middle EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman rue, from Latin rūta, from Ancient Greek ῥυτή (rhutḗ).

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

rue

  1. A kind of plant belonging to the genus Ruta; rue.
  2. (rare) meadow-rue (plants in the genus Thalictrum)

DescendantsEdit

  • English: rue
  • Scots: rew

ReferencesEdit

NormanEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old French rue, developed figuratively from Latin ruga (wrinkle).

PronunciationEdit

  • (file)

NounEdit

rue f (plural rues)

  1. (Jersey, Guernsey) road, street

Norwegian NynorskEdit

Alternative formsEdit

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

rue f (definite singular rua, indefinite plural ruer, definite plural ruene)

  1. a pile, heap
  2. a lump of manure, particularly from a cow

SynonymsEdit

Further readingEdit

Old FrenchEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Latin rūta, from Ancient Greek ῥυτή (rhutḗ).

NounEdit

rue f (oblique plural rues, nominative singular rue, nominative plural rues)

  1. rue (plant)

DescendantsEdit

ReferencesEdit

VenetianEdit

NounEdit

rue

  1. plural of rua