English
regret
Regret comes from Middle English regretten, from Old French regreter (re- + *greter ‘to weep’), from Frankish *grātan and *greutan ‘to weep’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰreh₁d-1‘to sound’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*grētaną1‘to weep’reconstructed
- Frankishc. 250–700*grātan1‘to weep’uncertain
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400*greter1‘to weep’reconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400regreter1‘to lament’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500regretten1
- Englishearliest quotation 1667regret1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English regret
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1667, Richard Allestree: “Is it a vertue to have some ineffective regrets…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰreh₁d-Wiktionary, English regret‘to sound’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*grētanąWiktionary, English regret‘to weep’reconstructed
- Frankishc. 250–700*grātanWiktionary, English regret‘to weep’uncertain
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400*greterWiktionary, English regret‘to weep’reconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400regreterWiktionary, English regret‘to lament’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500regrettenWiktionary, English regret
- Englishearliest quotation 1667regretWiktionary, English regret. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1667, Richard Allestree: “Is it a vertue to have some ineffective regrets…”
Linked words
through Proto-Germanic *grētaną ‘to weep’
Today it means
verb 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.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “regret”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰreh₁d- / regret