sorry

English

Etymology

From Middle English sory, from Old English sāriġ (“feeling or expressing grief, sorry, grieved, sorrowful, sad, mournful, bitter”), from Proto-Germanic *sairagaz (“sad”), from Proto-Indo-European *sayǝw- (“hard, rough, painful”), equivalent to sore +‎ -y. Cognate with Scots sairie (“sad, grieved”), West Frisian searich (“sad, sorry”), Low German serig (“sick, scabby”), German dialectal sehrig (“sore, sad, painful”), Swedish sårig. More at sore.

Pronunciation

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔɹi/

  Audio (Canada)

  (file)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɒɹi/, /ˈsɒɹɪ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɑɹi/, /ˈsɒɹi/, /ˈsɔɹi/

  Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophone: sari (some accents)
• Rhymes: -ɒri

Adjective

sorry (comparative sorrier, superlative sorriest)

1. (of a person) Regretful for an action; grieved or saddened, especially by the loss of something or someone.

   I am sorry I stepped on your toes. It was an accident.

   I am sorry to hear of your uncle's death.

2. Poor, pitifully sad or regrettable.

   The storm left his garden in a sorry state.

3. Pathetic and inferior to the point of causing others disgust.

   Bob is a sorry excuse for a football player.

Synonyms

• (regretful for an action or grieved): apologetic, attritional, compunctious, contrite, heavyhearted, melancholy, mournful, penitent, penitential, regretful, remorseful, repentant, sad, unhappy

Derived terms

• better safe than sorry
• sorrily
• sorriness
• supersorry
• unsorry

Translations

regretful for an action or grieved

• American Sign Language: A@Chest-PalmBack CirclesVert
• Arabic: آسِف‎ (ʾāsif)

  Egyptian Arabic: آسف‎ (āsif)

• Catalan: afligit (ca), perdona
• Chickasaw: nokhánglo
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 遺憾 (zh), 遗憾 (zh) (yíhàn)

• Czech: zarmoucený m
• Danish: ked af
• Dutch: (to be sorry) spijten (nl)
• Estonian: kahju (et)
• Finnish: pahoillaan (fi)
• French: désolé (fr)
• Galician: perdoe
• German: es tut mir leid , Entschuldigung (de), sorry (de)
• Greek: λυπάμαι (el) (lypámai)
• Hebrew: מִצְטַעֵר‎ (he) (mitztaér)
• Hungarian: sajnál (hu) verb
• Irish: brónach

• Italian: scusa (it)
• Japanese: (disagree one's mistake) 残念 (ja) (zannen), 遺憾 (ja) (ikan); (agree one's mistake) すまない (sumanai), 申し訳ない (mōshiwakenai); (regret) 残念 (ja) (zannen), 遺憾 (ja) (ikan), 恐縮 (ja) (kyōshuku)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: خەجاڵەت‎ (ku) (xecallet), لێبوردن‎ (ku) (lêburdin)

• Malay: maaf
• Maltese: skużani
• Norwegian: lei (no)
• Ojibwe: maanendam
• Persian: متاسف‎ (fa) (motâsef)
• Polish: przepraszam (pl), przykro mi
• Portuguese: desculpa (pt), perdão (pt)
• Russian: жаль (ru) (žalʹ), сожале́ющий (ru) (sožaléjuščij), огорчённый (ru) (ogorčónnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: duilich
• Spanish: disculpa (es), disculpe (es), discúlpame
• Swedish: ledsen (sv)
• Tagalog: paumanhin (tl)
• Turkish: üzgün (tr)

poor, regrettable

• American Sign Language: A@Chest-PalmBack CirclesVert
• Catalan: llastimós
• Czech: žalostný m
• Danish: sørgelig
• Dutch: armzalig (nl), treurig (nl)
• Finnish: surkea (fi), surullinen (fi)
• German: beklagenswert (de), armselig (de), traurig (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: φαῦλος (phaûlos)

• Japanese: (poor) 気の毒 (ja) (ki no doku), かわいそう (ja) (kawaisō); (regrettable) 残念 (ja) (zannen), 遺憾 (ja) (ikan)

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: پەشیمان‎ (ku) (peşîman)

• Limburgish: zörgelik
• Norwegian: sørgelig (no)
• Polish: przykry (pl), żałosny (pl)
• Portuguese: lastimável (pt) m or f
• Russian: жа́лкий (ru) (žálkij), плаче́вный (ru) (plačévnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: truagh
• Spanish: pobre (es) m or f
• Swedish: sorglig (sv), ledsam (sv)

Interjection

sorry

1. Expresses regret, remorse, or sorrow.

   Sorry! I didn't see that you were on the phone.

   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     Sorry about yesterday. - No worries.

     Audio (US)

     (file)

2. Used as a request for someone to repeat something not heard or understood clearly.

   Sorry? What was that? The phone cut out.

3. Used to correct oneself in speech.

   There are four — sorry, five — branches of the store locally.

Synonyms

• (express regret): soz (informal)
• (request to repeat): I beg your pardon?, I'm sorry?, say again, come again, excuse me? (US), what, huh, say what; see also Thesaurus:say again

Descendants

• → Hindi: सॉरी (sŏrī)

Translations

expression of regret or sorrow

• Adangme: kusie
• Afrikaans: jammer (af)
• Albanian: më falni (formal), më fal (informal)
• Alutiiq: kingun'inartua
• American Sign Language: A@Chest-PalmBack CirclesVert
• Arabic: آسِف‎ m (ʾāsif), آسِفَة‎ f (ʾāsifa), أَنَا آسِف‎ m (ʾanā ʾāsif), أَنَا آسِفَة‎ f (ʾanā ʾāsifa)

  Moroccan Arabic: سمح لي‎ (smaḥ li) (to a male), سمحي لي‎ (samḥi li) (to a female), سمحوا لي‎ (samḥu li) (to a group of people)

• Armenian: ներեցեք (nerecʿekʿ) (formal), կներեք (knerekʿ) (formal), ներիր (nerir) (informal), կներես (kneres) (informal), ներողություն (hy) (nerołutʿyun)
• Azerbaijani: bağışlayın
• Belarusian: (formal) выбача́йце (vybačájcje), (informal) выбача́й (vybačáj)
• Bengali: দুঃখিত (duḥkhit), মাফ করবেন (maph kôrôben), সরি (sôri)
• Bulgarian: (formal) извине́те (bg) (izvinéte), (informal) извинявай (bg) (izvinjavaj), съжалявам (bg) (sǎžaljavam), пардо́н (bg) (pardón) (colloquial)
• Burmese: ဝမ်းနည်းပါတယ်။ (wam:nany:patai||), ဆောရီးနော်။ (hcau:ri:nau||)
• Catalan: perdó (ca), disculpes
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 對不起, 对不起 (deui³ bat¹ hei²) (formal and written), 對唔住, 对唔住 (deui³ m⁴ jyu⁶), 唔好意思 (m⁴ hou² yi³ si¹)

  Hakka: 敗勢, 败势 (phài-se), 斯里麻生 (sṳ̀-li-ma-sén), 對唔住, 对唔住 (dui⁴ m² cu⁴), 失禮, 失礼 (sṳt-lî)

  Mandarin: 對不起 (zh), 对不起 (zh) (duìbùqǐ), 抱歉 (zh) (bàoqiàn), 不好意思 (zh) (bù hǎoyìsi), 對不住 (zh), 对不住 (zh) (duìbùzhù)

  Min Nan: 歹勢 (zh-min-nan), 歹势 (pháiⁿ-sè, phái-sè), 毋好勢 (zh-min-nan), 毋好势 (m̄-hó-sè), 對不住 (zh-min-nan), 对不住 (tùi-put-chū), 對不起 (zh-min-nan), 对不起 (zh-min-nan) (tùi-put-khí), 失禮 (zh-min-nan), 失礼 (sit-lé)

  Wu: 對勿起, 对勿起 (te veq qi), 勿好意思 (veq hau i sr)

• Czech: promiň (informal singular), promiňte (plural or formal singular), pardon (cs)
• Danish: undskyld (da), beklager
• Dutch: sorry (nl), het spijt me, pardon (nl), excuseer (nl)
• Esperanto: mi bedaŭras
• Estonian: vabandust (et), andestust, andeks, sorry (et) (colloquial)
• Finnish: anteeksi (fi), sori (fi), olen pahoillani, pahoittelen
• French: désolé (fr), navré (fr), excusez-moi (fr), excuse-moi, pardon (fr)
• Georgian: უკაცრავად (uḳacravad)
• German: Entschuldigung (de), sorry (de); (more formal) entschuldigen Sie bitte, verzeihen Sie bitte, es tut mir leid, ich bitte um Entschuldigung, Verzeihung (de)
• Greek: συγγνώμη (el) (syngnómi)
• Hebrew: סְלִיחָה‎ (he) (slikhha)
• Hindi: माफ़ कीजिए (māf kījie), सॉरी (sŏrī)
• Hungarian: elnézést, elnézést kérek, bocsánat (hu), bocs (hu) (informal)
• Icelandic: fyrirgefðu (is), afsakið, fyrirgefðu mér
• Ido: me regretas
• Interlingua: pardono
• Irish: tá brón orm
• Italian: scusi (it), scusa (it), mi scusi (it), spiacente (it), spiacenti (it) m pl or f pl
• Japanese: すみません (sumimasen), すまない (sumanai) (informal), ごめんなさい (ja) (gomen'nasai), ごめん (gomen) (informal) 失礼しました (shitsurei shimashita), 申し訳ありません (もうしわけありません, mōshiwake arimasen)
• Jingpho: tawng ban sai yaw
• Karachay-Balkar: кечериксиз (keçeriksiz!)

• Khmer: សូមទោស (som tos)
• Korean: 죄송합니다 (joesonghamnida), 미안합니다 (ko) (mianhamnida), 실례합니다 (ko) (sillyehamnida), 미안 (ko) (mian) (informal)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ببوورە‎ (ku) (bbûre)

• Lao: ຂໍໂທດ (khǭ thōt)
• Latin: mihi īgnōsce, excusa, excusate pl, mihi ignoscite pl, doleo (la), me paenitet, meā culpā, paeniteō
• Latvian: piedodiet
• Limburgish: spietelik
• Lithuanian: atsiprašau (lt), atleiskite, dovanokite (lt)
• Malay: maaf
• Maltese: skużi (mt), skużani
• Mongolian: уучлаарай (uučlaaraj)
• Northern Sami: ándagassii
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: unnskyld (no), beklager (no)

  Nynorsk: unnskyld, orsak

• Okinawan: 悪さいびーん (わっさいびーん, wassaibīn)
• Persian: معذرت می‌خواهم‎ (ma'zerat mi-xâham), ببخشید‎ (bebaxšid)
• Polish: przepraszam (pl), przykro mi
• Portuguese: desculpa (pt), (formal) perdão (pt), (slang) foi mal
• Romanian: îmi pare rău, scuză (ro), (informal, familiar) scuză-mă, scuzați, (formal, polite) scuzați-mă
• Russian: извини́те/извини́ (ru) (izviníte/izviní) (formal/informal), прости́те/прости́ (ru) (prostíte/prostí) (formal/informal), прошу́ проще́ния (prošú proščénija), (informal) извиня́юсь (ru) (izvinjájusʹ), пардо́н (ru) (pardón) (colloquial), со́рри (ru) (sórri) (slang)
• Scottish Gaelic: tha mi duilich
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: извините (formal), извини (informal), опростите

  Roman: izvinite (sh) (formal), izvini (sh) (informal), oprostite (sh)

• Slovak: (formal) prepáčte, (informal) prepáč (sk), bohužiaľ
• Slovene: (formal) oprostite, (informal) oprosti
• Spanish: discúlpame, perdóname, lo siento, perdón (es)
• Swedish: förlåt (sv)
• Tagalog: paumanhin (tl), patawad
• Thai: ขอโทษ (th) (kɔ̌ɔ-tôot)
• Tibetan: དགོངས་དག (dgongs dag)
• Turkish: pardon (tr), özür dilerim (literally "I apologize"), afedersin (colloquial; informal, singular), affedersin (tr) (written; informal, singular), afedersiniz (tr) (colloquial; formal, plural), affedersiniz (tr) (written; informal, singular) üzgünüm (literally "I am sorry")
• Ukrainian: (formal) проба́чте (probáčte), (informal) проба́ч (probáč), перепро́шую (perepróšuju), ви́бачте (výbačte), ви́бач (výbač)
• Urdu: معاف کیجئے‎ (māf kījie), ساری‎ (sārī)
• Uyghur: كەچۈرۈڭ‎ (kechürüng)
• Vietnamese: xin lỗi (vi)
• Walloon: mande escuze (wa)
• Welsh: mae'n ddrwg gen i, sori
• White Hmong: thov txim
• Yiddish: זײַ מיר מוחל‎ (zay mir moykhl)
• Zulu: ngiyaxolisa
• ǃXóõ: ǀùa ǁʻúm ǀnān

request to repeat

• Afrikaans: ekskuus, wat het jy gesê?, wat sê jy? (informal)
• Arabic: عَفْوًا!‎ (ʿafwan!), (to a male) مَاذَا قُلْتَ؟‎ (māḏā qulta?), (to a female) مَاذَا قُلْتِ؟‎ (māḏā qulti?), عُذْراً!‎ (ar) (ʿuḏran!)
• Bulgarian: моля? (bg) impf (molja?)
• Catalan: perdó (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 請再説一遍, 请再说一遍 (qǐng zài shuō yíbiàn), (less formal) 再説一遍, 再说一遍 (zài shuō yíbiàn), (plain) 什麼？ (zh), 什么？ (zh) (shénme), 哦？ (zh) (é?)

• Czech: prosím (cs)?
• Danish: undskyld (da)
• Dutch: pardon (nl)?, wat zegt u, wat zeg je
• Esperanto: pardonu
• Finnish: anteeksi (fi)
• French: excusez-moi (fr), excuse-moi, pardon? (fr), comment? (fr), (plain) quoi (fr), hein? (fr) (colloquial)
• Georgian: უკაცრავად (uḳacravad), რა (ka) (ra)
• German: wie bitte? (de), bitte? (de), wie? (de) (plain)
• Hungarian: tessék? (hu), elnézést, nem értem
• Icelandic: afsakið?, fyrirgefðu (is)?
• Indonesian: maaf (id)
• Irish: gabh mo leithscéal
• Italian: cosa (it)?, come (it)?, scusa (it)?, eh (it)? (colloquial), scusi (it)? (formal), mi scusi (it)? (formal)

• Japanese: もう一回 (もういっかい, mō ikkai), もう一度 (もういちど, mō ichido) add いってください (itte kudasai) (to the end to make the request more polite), (plain) 何？ (ja) (なに？, nani?), え？ (ja) (e?)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ببوورە‎ (ku) (bbûre), بەڵێ‎ (ku) (bellê)

• Latin: repete
• Limburgish: waat? (li)
• Malay: minta maaf, maaf
• Mongolian: юу гэнээ? (juu genee?)
• Northern Sami: ándagassii
• Norwegian: unnskyld (no)
• Persian: ببخشید‎ (bebaxšid), معذرت می‌خواهم‎ (ma'zerat mi-xâham)
• Polish: przepraszam? (pl), słucham?
• Portuguese: quê? (pt) como?, hein? (pt), perdão? (pt)
• Russian: прошу́ проще́ния (prošú proščénija), что вы сказа́ли (što vy skazáli)?, (plain) что? (ru) (što?)
• Scottish Gaelic: b' àill leat? (informal singular), b' àill leibh? (plural or formal singular)
• Serbo-Croatian: molim (sh)?
• Spanish: ¿cómo? (es), ¿perdón? (es), (Colombia, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, colloquial) ¿ah? (es), (Cuba, Spain, colloquial) ¿eh? (es), (Mexico, colloquial) ¿mande? (es)
• Swedish: ursäkta (sv), förlåt (sv)
• Turkish: pardon (tr)?, efendim (tr)?
• Walloon: kimint djhoz? (ordinary and polite), kimint diss? (familiar), cwè (wa)? (colloquial), pardon? (formal)

to correct oneself in speech

• Finnish: tarkoitan, siis
• French: pardon (fr), désolé (fr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Fijian: ^{(please verify)} vosota sara
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} mi dispiace
• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} atsiprašau (lt)
• Sundanese: ^{(please verify)} punten

• Tagalog: (informal) ^{(please verify)} pasensiya na, (formal) ^{(please verify)} pasensiya na po, (for adjective, 2) ^{(please verify)} sira (tl) The southern Tagalog term: Paumanhin related to Greek ὑπομονή (patience)
• Tamil: ^{(please verify)} மன்னிக்கவும் (maṉṉikkavum)
• Welsh: ^{(please verify)} mae'n flin gen i, ^{(please verify)} mae'n ddrwg gen i

Noun

sorry (plural sorries or sorrys)

1. The act of saying sorry; an apology.
   • 2007, Christopher Levan, Give Us This Day: Lenten Reflections on Baking Bread and Discipleship (page 107)

     The British would do it standing stock still, Latinos would dance their sorries, and Canadians would find a way to apologize on ice.

   • 2008, Lucy S. Danziger, Self Magazine's 15 Minutes to Your Best Self:

     So learn how to tailor your sorries to the sexes. Women tend to want an acknowledgment of what they're going through...

Translations

act of saying sorry

• Afrikaans: verskoning vra
• Finnish: anteeksipyyntö (fi)
• Greek: συγγνώμη (el) f (syngnómi)

• Italian: scuse (it) f pl
• Persian: پوزش‎ (fa) (puzeš)
• Swedish: förlåt (sv) n, ursäkt (sv) c

Related terms

• sorrow
• sorrowful

Further reading

• sorry in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• sorry in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

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Czech

Etymology

From English sorry.

Interjection

sorry

1. (informal) sorry (I apologize)

Synonyms

• See also pardon

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Dutch

Etymology

From English sorry.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Interjection

sorry

1. sorry (expressing regret)

   Je hebt me heel erg pijn gedaan toen je dat zei. — Sorry, dat is nooit mijn bedoeling geweest.

   You really hurt me a lot when you said that. — Sorry, that was never my intention.

2. sorry, pardon, excuse me

   Je stond op mijn voet! — Oh, sorry!

   You were standing on my foot! — Oh, sorry!

Synonyms

• (expressing regret): het spijt me
• (pardon): pardon, excuseer

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Middle English

Etymology 1

From Anglo-Norman soree.

Noun

sorry

1. Alternative form of sorre

Etymology 2

From Old English sāriġ.

Noun

sorry

1. (Late ME) Alternative form of sory