Meaning of the word sorry

Last Updated:
2 Apr 2023
— Updated example sentences

• Adangme: kusie
• Afrikaans: jammer (af)
• Albanian: më falni (formal), më fal (informal)
• Alutiiq: kingun’inartua
• American Sign Language: A@Chest-PalmBack CirclesVert
• Amharic: አዝናለሁ (ʾäznalähu), እናዝናለን (ʾənaznalän), ይቅርታ (yəḳrəta),
• Arabic: آسِف‎ m (ʔāsif), آسِفَة‎ f (ʔāsifa), أَنَا آسِف‎ m (ʔanā ʔāsif), أَنَا آسِفَة‎ f (ʔanā ʔāsifa)

  Moroccan Arabic: سمح لي‎ (smaḥ li) (to a male), سمحي لي‎ (samḥi li) (to a female), سمحوا لي‎ (samḥu li) (to a group of people)

• Armenian: ներեցեք (nerecʿekʿ) (formal), կներեք (knerekʿ) (formal), ներիր (nerir) (informal), կներես (kneres) (informal), ներողություն (hy) (nerołutʿyun)
• Azerbaijani: bağışlayın
• Basque: barka (eu), barkamen (eu)
• Belarusian: (formal) выбача́йце (vybačájcje), (informal) выбача́й (vybačáj)
• Bengali: দুঃখিত (dukkhito), মাফ করবেন (maph koroben), সরি (śori)
• Bulgarian: (formal) извине́те (bg) (izvinéte), (informal) извинявай (bg) (izvinjavaj), съжалявам (bg) (sǎžaljavam), пардо́н (bg) (pardón) (colloquial)
• Burmese: ဝမ်းနည်းပါတယ်။ (wam:nany:patai||), ဆောရီးနော်။ (hcau:ri:nau||)
• Catalan: perdó (ca), disculpes
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 對不起／对不起 (deui³ bat¹ hei²) (formal and written), 對唔住／对唔住 (yue) (deui³ m⁴ jyu⁶), 唔好意思 (m⁴ hou² ji³ si¹)

  Hakka: 敗勢／败势 (phài-se), 斯里麻生 (sṳ̀-li-ma-sén), 對唔住／对唔住 (dui⁴ m² cu⁴), 失禮／失礼 (sṳt-lî)

  Mandarin: 對不起／对不起 (zh) (duìbùqǐ), 抱歉 (zh) (bàoqiàn), 不好意思 (zh) (bù hǎoyìsi), 對不住／对不住 (zh) (duìbùzhù)

  Min Nan: 歹勢／歹势 (zh-min-nan) (pháiⁿ-sè, phái-sè), 毋好勢／毋好势 (zh-min-nan) (m̄-hó-sè), 對不住／对不住 (zh-min-nan) (tùi-put-chū), 對不起／对不起 (zh-min-nan) (tùi-put-khí), 失禮／失礼 (zh-min-nan) (sit-lé)

  Wu: 對勿起／对勿起 (te veq qi), 勿好意思 (veq hau i sr)

• Czech: promiň (informal singular), promiňte (plural or formal singular), pardon (cs)
• Danish: undskyld (da), beklager
• Dutch: sorry (nl), het spijt me, pardon (nl), excuseer (nl)
• Esperanto: mi bedaŭras (sorrow), mi pardonpetas (remorse), pardonu (remorse)
• Estonian: vabandust (et), andestust, andeks, sorry (et) (colloquial)
• Finnish: anteeksi (fi), sori (fi), olen pahoillani, pahoittelen
• French: désolé (fr), navré (fr), excusez-moi (fr), excuse-moi, pardon (fr) je m’excuse (fr)
• Garo: kema
• Georgian: უკაცრავად (uḳacravad)
• German: Entschuldigung (de), sorry (de); (more formal) entschuldigen Sie bitte, verzeihen Sie bitte, es tut mir leid, ich bitte um Entschuldigung, Verzeihung (de)
• Greek: συγγνώμη (el) (syngnómi)
• Hebrew: סְלִיחָה‎ (he) (slikhha)
• Hindi: माफ़ कीजिए (māf kījie), सॉरी (sŏrī)
• Hungarian: elnézést, elnézést kérek, bocsánat (hu), bocs (hu) (informal)
• Icelandic: fyrirgefðu (is), afsakið, fyrirgefðu mér
• Ido: me regretas
• Indonesian: maaf (id)
• Interlingua: pardono
• Irish: tá brón orm
• Italian: scusi (it), scusa (it), mi scusi (it), spiacente (it), spiacenti (it) m pl or f pl
• Japanese: すみません (ja) (sumimasen), すまない (sumanai) (informal), ごめんなさい (ja) (gomennasai), ごめん (gomen) (informal) 失礼しました (ja) (shitsurei shimashita), 申し訳ありません (もうしわけありません, mōshiwake arimasen)
• Jingpho: tawng ban sai yaw
• Karachay-Balkar: кечериксиз (keçeriksiz)
• Khmer: សូមទោស (som tos)
• Korean: 죄송합니다 (joesong hamnida) (polite, formal), 미안합니다 (ko) (mian hamnida) (polite, formal), 실례합니다 (ko) (sillye hamnida) (polite, formal), 미안 (ko) (mian) (informal), 미안해요 (ko) (mian haeyo) (polite, informal), 죄송해요 (ko) (joesong haeyo) (polite, informal)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ببوورە‎ (bbûre)

• Lao: ຂໍໂທດ (khǭ thōt)
• Latin: mihi īgnōsce, excūsā, excūsāte pl, mihi īgnōscite pl, doleō (la), mē paenitet, meā culpā, paeniteō
• Latvian: piedodiet
• Limburgish: spietelik
• Lithuanian: atsiprašau (lt), atleiskite, dovanokite (lt)
• Malay: maaf
• Maltese: skużi (mt), skużani
• Mongolian: уучлаарай (uučlaaraj)
• Northern Sami: ándagassii
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: unnskyld (no), beklager (no)

  Nynorsk: unnskyld, orsak

• Okinawan: 悪さいびーん (わっさいびーん, wassaibīn)
• Persian: معذرت می‌خواهم‎ (ma’zerat mi-xâham), ببخشید‎ (fa) (bebaxšid)
• Polish: przepraszam (pl), przykro mi (pl), (informal) sorry (pl), wybacz, przebacz, pardon (pl) (rare), daruj (archaic)
• Portuguese: desculpa (pt), (formal) perdão (pt), (slang) foi mal
• Romanian: îmi pare rău, scuză (ro), (informal, familiar) scuză-mă, scuzați (ro), (formal, polite) scuzați-mă
• Russian: извини́те/извини́ (ru) (izviníte/izviní) (formal/informal), прости́те/прости́ (ru) (prostíte/prostí) (formal/informal), прошу́ проще́ния (prošú proščénija), (informal) извиня́юсь (ru) (izvinjájusʹ), пардо́н (ru) (pardón) (colloquial), со́рри (ru) (sórri) (slang)
• Scottish Gaelic: tha mi duilich
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: извините (formal), извини (informal), опростите

  Roman: izvinite (sh) (formal), izvini (sh) (informal), oprostite (sh)

• Slovak: (formal) prepáčte, (informal) prepáč (sk), bohužiaľ
• Slovene: (formal) oprostite, (informal) oprosti
• Spanish: discúlpame, perdóname, lo siento, perdón (es)
• Swedish: förlåt (sv)
• Tagalog: paumanhin (tl), patawad
• Thai: ขอโทษ (th) (kɔ̌ɔ-tôot)
• Tibetan: དགོངས་དག (dgongs dag)
• Turkish: pardon (tr), özür dilerim (literally “I apologize”), afedersin (colloquial, informal, singular), affedersin (tr) (written, informal, singular), afedersiniz (tr) (colloquial, formal, plural), affedersiniz (tr) (written, informal, singular) üzgünüm (literally “I am sorry”)
• Ukrainian: проба́чте (probáčte) (formal), проба́ч (probáč) (informal), перепро́шую (perepróšuju), ви́бачте (výbačte) (formal), ви́бач (výbač) (informal), дару́йте (darújte) (formal), дару́й (darúj) (informal)
• Urdu: معاف کیجئے‎ (ma’āf kījie, literally “forgive me”) (formal), معذرت‎ (ma’azirat), میں معذرت چاہتا ہوں‎ (ma͠i ma’azirat cāhtā hū̃, literally “I ask forgiveness”) (formal)
• Uyghur: كەچۈرۈڭ‎ (kechürüng)
• Vietnamese: xin lỗi (vi)
• Walloon: mande escuze (wa)
• Welsh: mae’n ddrwg gen i, sori
• White Hmong: thov txim
• Yiddish: זײַ מיר מוחל‎ (zay mir moykhl), עס טוט מיר לײַד‎ (es tut mir layd)
• Zulu: ngiyaxolisa
• ǃXóõ: ǀùa ǁʻúm ǀnān

Last Update: Jan 03, 2023

This is a question our experts keep getting from time to time. Now, we have got the complete detailed explanation and answer for everyone, who is interested!

Asked by: Juvenal Kub

Score: 4.4/5
(39 votes)

An apology is an expression of regret or remorse for actions, while apologizing is the act of expressing regret or remorse. In informal situations, it may be called saying sorry.

What is the true meaning of sorry?

The definition of sorry is a feeling of sorrow or regret. An example of sorry is someone expressing sadness over a friend’s parent dying such as «I’m sorry.» … Causing sorrow, grief, or misfortune; grievous. A sorry development.

Why do people say sorry?

When you apologize, you’re telling someone that you’re sorry for the hurt you caused, even if you didn’t do it on purpose. People who are apologizing might also say that they will try to do better. They might promise to fix or replace what was broken or take back a mean thing they said.

What’s the difference between saying sorry and apologizing?

Saying sorry simply expresses your personal feelings about something. Apologizing implies that you are accepting the responsibility of the fault or mistake as well as expressing your regret about it. This is the main difference between sorry and apology.

Does sorry mean you won’t do it again?

Saying sorry means that you won’t do the same thing again. If you do, you were never really sorry in the first place. Saying sorry means that you won’t do the same thing again. If you do, you were never really sorry in the first place.

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