Rue Definition

ro͝o
rued, rues, ruing
verb
rued, rues, ruing
To feel remorse or repentance for (a sin, fault, etc.)
Webster's New World
To be sorrowful or regretful.
Webster's New World
To wish (an act, promise, etc.) undone or unmade; regret.
Webster's New World

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.
Wiktionary
noun
rues
Sorrow, repentance, or regret.
Webster's New World
Any of a genus (Ruta) of strong-scented shrubs of the rue family, esp. an herb (R. graveolens) with yellow flowers and bitter-tasting leaves formerly used in medicine.
Webster's New World
Any of various other plants having similar foliage, such as meadow rue.
American Heritage Medicine

(archaic or dialectal) Pity; compassion.

Wiktionary
adjective
Designating a family (Rutaceae, order Sapindales) of woody dicotyledonous plants, including the gas plant and the citrus plants.
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Rue

Noun

Singular:
rue
Plural:
rues

Origin of Rue

  • 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

  • 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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