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rueful

adj
/ˈɹuːfl̩/

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *hrewwaną Proto-West Germanic *hreuwan Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Germanic *-ō Proto-West Germanic *-u Proto-West Germanic *hreuwu Old English hrēow Middle English rewe Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós Proto-Germanic *fullaz Proto-Germanic *-fullaz Old English -ful Middle English -ful Middle English reuful English rueful From Middle English ruful, rewful. By surface analysis, rue + -ful.

  1. inherited from ruful

Definitions

  1. Causing, feeling, or expressing regret or sorrow, especially in a wry or humorous way.

    • Merely, he received it with the rueful indulgence that he would show towards Tom when he came through with one of his solutions for ending world poverty or the arms race.

  2. Inspiring pity or compassion.

  3. Bad

    Bad; woeful; deplorable.

The neighborhood

Derived

ruefully, ruefulness, unrueful

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for rueful. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA