sorrowsome
"sorrowsome" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sorrowsome” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Marked by sorrow; sad; dreary; sorrowful
Corpus desk
Index EN-sorrowsome · sorrowsome · English
sorrowsome · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sorrowsome |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sorrowsome” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
sorrowsome is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Marked by sorrow; sad; dreary; sorrowful".
sorrowsome doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From sorrow + -some. Compare Dutch zorgzaam (“careful; considerate”), German sorgsam (“careful”). The correct English form is sorrowsome, spelled S-O-R-R-O-W-S-O-M-E.
Definition
- 1Marked by sorrow; sad; dreary; sorrowful
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how sorrowsome appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The note strikes the young artist curiously, but just then the squeaky elevator arrives with a sorrowsome ding and she is distracted by its squawking doors and a grumbling old lady with a shopping bag.
Then He too laughing asks me “Why so pale And sorrow-some? [...]”
Etymology
From sorrow + -some. Compare Dutch zorgzaam (“careful; considerate”), German sorgsam (“careful”).
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
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Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.