Rue Definition
(archaic or dialectal) Pity; compassion.
Origin of Rue
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From Middle English rewe, reowe, from Old English hrÄ“ow (“sorrow, regret, penitence, repentance, penance"), from Proto-Germanic *hrewwō (“pain, sadness, regret, repentance"), from Proto-Indo-European *krew-, *krow-, *krows- (“to push, fall, beat, break"). Cognate with Scots rew (“rue"), West Frisian rouw (“sadness"), Dutch rouw (“mourning, sadness"), German Reue (“repentance, regret, remorse, contrition"), Lithuanian krùšti (“to smash, crash, bruise"), Russian крушить (krushitʹ, “to destroy").
From Wiktionary
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From Anglo-Norman ruwe, Old French rue (> modern French rue), from Latin rÅ«ta, from Ancient Greek ῥυτή (rute). Compare rude.
From Wiktionary
Old English hrÄ“owan, perhaps influenced by Old Norse hryggja (“to distress, grieve"), from Germanic. Cognate with Dutch rouwen, German reuen.
From Wiktionary
Middle English ruen from Old English hrēowan to affect with grief and hrēowian to repent
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Middle English from Old French from Latin rūta probably from Greek rhūtē
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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