sorry

The word 'sorry' originates from the Old English 'sārig', meaning "distressed, full of sorrow," which itself is derived from 'sār', meaning "pain, sickness, grief." This Old English root 'sār' can be traced back to the Proto-Germanic 'sairaz', meaning "painful, sick," and further to the Proto-Indo-European root 'sai-', conveying a sense of suffering or affliction. The semantic journey saw the meaning shift from a state of physical pain or distress to one primarily of mental regret or penitence. By the early modern English period, it had fully developed its core modern senses of feeling regret, offering an apology, or describing something pitiful.

The word is a simplex form derived from a single Old English root. It cannot be meaningfully segmented into distinct, reusable morphemes within its modern English spelling.