rue

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See also: Appendix:Variations of "rue"

English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English rewe, reowe, from Old English hrēow (“sorrow, regret, penitence, repentance, penance”), from Proto-West Germanic *hreuwu (“pain, sadness, regret, repentance”). Compare German reuen (“to regret, to repent”) and Dutch berouwen (“to regret, to repent”). Also compare with related Russian сокруша́ться (sokrušátʹsja, “to be distressed, to grieve (for, over)”), Russian круши́ть (krušítʹ, “to destroy, to shatter”).

Noun

rue (uncountable)

  2. (archaic or dialectal) Sorrow; repentance; regret.
  3. (archaic or dialectal) Pity; compassion.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English rewen, ruwen, ruen, reowen, from Old English hrēowan (“to rue; make sorry; grieve”), perhaps influenced by Old Norse hryggja (“to distress, grieve”), from Proto-Germanic *hrewwaną (“to sadden; repent”).

Verb

rue (third-person singular simple present rues, present participle ruing or rueing, simple past and past participle rued)

  2. (obsolete, transitive) To cause to repent of sin or regret some past action.
  3. (obsolete, transitive) To cause to feel sorrow or pity.
  4. (transitive) To repent of or regret (some past action or event); to wish that a past action or event had not taken place.
    I rued the day I crossed paths with her.
    • 1614–1615, Homer, “(please specify the book number)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, […], volumes (please specify the book number), London: John Russell Smith, […], 1857, →OCLC:
      I wept to see, and rued it from my heart.
      The spelling has been modernized.
    • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 4:
      Thy will chose freely what it now so justly rues.
    • 2009, David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race:
      And feminization of the homeland is something to be rued, while the feminized humiliation of the enemy for the sake of the fatherland is cause for commendation and celebration.
    • 2009, Erica James, It's The Little Things:
      As far as they were concerned, he must be ruing the day he ever met Sally.
    • 2012, Joy Fielding, Still Life:
      And was the fact she was no longer losing large chunks of time something to be celebrated or something to be rued?
    • 2014, Gary Meehan, True Fire:
      “If we get in a fight, you'll be ruing your lack of training.”
    • 2017, Lorde (lyrics and music), “Writer in the Dark”:
      Bet you rue the day you kissed a writer in the dark
  5. (archaic, intransitive) To feel compassion or pity.
    • 1842, Nicholas Ridley, The Life of Nicholas Ridley
      which stirred men's hearts to rue upon them
  6. (archaic, intransitive) To feel sorrow or regret.
Usage notes
Translations

Etymology 3

Rue (plant)

From Middle English rue, from Anglo-Norman ruwe, Old French rue, from Latin rūta, from Ancient Greek ῥυτή (rhutḗ).

Noun

rue (plural rues)

  1. Any of various perennial shrubs of the genus Ruta, especially the herb Ruta graveolens (common rue), formerly used in medicines.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
      But th'aged Nourse, her calling to her bowre, / Had gathered Rew, and Savine, and the flowre / Of Camphora, and Calamint, and Dill [...].
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v]:
      Ophelia:
      There’s fennel for you, and columbines: there’s rue for you; and here’s some for me: we may call it herb-grace o' Sundays: O you must wear your rue with a difference.
    • 1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 253:
      The life of one plant would be affected by another. Rue was definitely hostile to basil, rosemary to hyssop, but coriander, dill and chervil lived on the friendliest of terms[.]
Derived terms
Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

Chuukese

Numeral

rue

  1. twenty

French

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old French rue, developed figuratively from Latin rūga (“wrinkle”).

Noun

La Rue de la Rue (Suèvres, Centre-Val de Loire, France)

rue f (plural rues)

  1. street, road
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Inherited from Old French rue, rude, from Latin rūta, from Ancient Greek ῥυτή (rhutḗ).

Noun

rue f (plural rues)

  1. rue (the plant)

Etymology 3

From ruer.

Verb

rue

  1. inflection of ruer:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

Galician

Verb

rue

  1. (reintegrationist norm) inflection of ruar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Kabuverdianu

Verb

rue

  1. gossip

References

  • Gonçalves, Manuel (2015) Capeverdean Creole-English dictionary, →ISBN

Latin

Verb

rue

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of ruō

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman rue, from Latin rūta, from Ancient Greek ῥυτή (rhutḗ).

Pronunciation

Noun

rue

  1. A kind of plant belonging to the genus Ruta; rue.
  2. (rare) meadow-rue (plants in the genus Thalictrum)

Descendants

  • English: rue
  • Scots: rew

References

Norman

Etymology

From Old French rue, developed figuratively from Latin ruga (“wrinkle”).

Pronunciation

Noun

rue f (plural rues)

  1. (Jersey, Guernsey) road, street
    • 1903, Edgar MacCulloch, “Proverbs, Weather Sayings, etc.”, in Guernsey Folk Lore‎[1], page 520:
      I' n'y a pas de rue sàns but.
      There is no road but has an ending.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

Etymology

Compare Swedish ruva

Pronunciation

Noun

rue f (definite singular rua, indefinite plural ruer, definite plural ruene)

  1. a pile, heap
  2. a lump of manure, particularly from a cow

Synonyms

Further reading

Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin rūta, from Ancient Greek ῥυτή (rhutḗ).

Noun

rue oblique singular, f (oblique plural rues, nominative singular rue, nominative plural rues)

  1. rue (plant)

Descendants

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References

Portuguese

Verb

rue

  1. inflection of ruar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Venetian

Noun

rue

  1. plural of rua
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