sorrowful
sor·row·ful/ˈsɑɹoʊfəl/adjective
sorrowful is spelled S-O-R-R-O-W-F-U-L: 9 letters and 3 syllables (sor·row·ful). It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 41,660th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, sorrowful means “exhibiting sorrow; dejected; distraught; sad. (of a person)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in sorrowful?
| Letters | 9: S-O-R-R-O-W-F-U-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: sor·row·ful |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 41,660th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is sorrowful?
Sorrowful appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 41,660th 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 sorrowful?
- Canada /ˈsɔɹoʊfəl/
- Canada /ˈsɔɹəfəl/
- US /ˈsɑɹoʊfəl/
Sorrowful has 3 syllables, split sor·row·ful in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-sorrowful.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of sorrowful
- more sorrowful comparative
- most sorrowful superlative
- sorrowfull
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sorrowful mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
exhibiting sorrow; dejected; distraught; sad. (of a person)
- 2
Producing sorrow; causing grief.
sorrowful accident
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sorrowful in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | triste, douloureux , attristant |
| German | betrübt, kummervoll, sorgenvoll, traurig |
| Portuguese | magoado |
| Spanish | triste |
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 sorrowful come from?
From Middle English sorweful, from Old English sorhful, sorgful (“full of care; anxious; sorrowful”), from Proto-Germanic *surgafullaz (“full of care; anxious”), equivalent to sorrow + -ful. Cognate with Old High German sorgfol (“careful; anxious”), Norwegian sorgfull (“sorrowful”), Icelandic sorgfullur (“lamentable”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).