sorrow
sor·row/ˈsɑɹoʊ/noun, verb
sorrow is spelled S-O-R-R-O-W: 6 letters and 2 syllables (sor·row). It appears 5.4 times per million words in written English, the 10,680th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sorrow means “unhappiness, woe” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sorrow is sorrows.
How many letters and syllables are in sorrow?
| Letters | 6: S-O-R-R-O-W |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: sor·row |
| In writing | 5.4 times per million words; the 10,680th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is sorrow?
Sorrow appears 5.4 times per million words in written English, the 10,680th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce sorrow?
- UK /ˈsɒɹəʊ/
- US /ˈsɑɹoʊ/
- Canada /ˈsɔɹoʊ/
Sorrow has 2 syllables, split sor·row in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-sorrow.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with sorrow?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as sorrow from its last stressed vowel (/ɑɹoʊ/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of sorrow
- sorrows plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- sorrowing participle, present
- sorrowed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sorrow mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
unhappiness, woe
The safe and general antidote against sorrow is employment.
- 2
(usually in plural) An instance or cause of unhappiness.
Parting is such sweet sorrow.
verb
- 1
To feel or express grief.
- 2
To feel grief over; to mourn, regret.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sorrow in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense unhappiness:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | peine, chagrin |
| German | Kummer, Traurigkeit, Trauer, Sorge, Kümmernis, Leiden |
| Portuguese | tristeza, mágoa, pesar |
| Spanish | pesar, pesadumbre, pena, sinsabor, quebranto, acíbar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does sorrow come from?
From Middle English sorwe, sorow, sorewe, from Old English sorg, sorh (“care, anxiety, sorrow, grief”), from Proto-West Germanic *sorgu, from Proto-Germanic *surgō (compare West Frisian soarch, Dutch zorg, German Sorge, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian sorg), from Proto-Indo-European *swergʰ- (“watch over, worry; be ill, suffer”) (compare Old Irish serg (“sickness”), Tocharian B sark (“sickness”), Lithuanian sirgti (“be sick”), Sanskrit सूर्क्षति (sū́rkṣati, “worry”). Despite the similarity in form and meaning, not historically related to sorry and sore.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).