# regret

> English word · Verb · IPA /ɹɪˈɡɹɛt/ · frequency rank #3,838

## Definitions
1. To feel sorry about (a thing that has or has not happened), afterthink: to wish that a thing had not happened, that something else had happened instead.
2. To feel sorry about (any thing).
3. To miss; to feel the loss or absence of; to mourn.

## Etymology
From Middle English regretten, regreten, from Old French regreter, regrater (“to lament”), from re- (intensive prefix) + *greter, *grater (“to weep”), from Frankish *grātan (“to weep, mourn, lament”), from Proto-Germanic *grētaną (“to weep”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰreh₁d- (“to sound”); and Frankish *greutan (“to cry, weep”), from Proto-Germanic *greutaną (“to weep, cry”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrewd- (“to weep, be sad”), equivalent to re- + greet. Cognate with Old High German grāzan (“to cry”), Old English grǣtan (“to weep, greet”), Old English grēotan (“to weep, lament”), Old Norse gráta (“to weep, groan”), Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽 (grētan, “to weep”). More at greet.

## Easily confused with
- **reset** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/regret-vs-reset)
- **retreat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/regret-vs-retreat)
- **regent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/regent-vs-regret)
- **reared** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reared-vs-regret)
- **regress** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/regress-vs-regret)

## Common misspellings (9)
`ergret`, `regert`, `reggret`, `regrett`, `regrret`, `regrte`, `rerget`, `rgeret`, `rregret`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/regret