Note: these 'words' (valid or invalid) are all the permutations of the word rue. These words are obtained by scrambling the letters in rue.
Definitions and meaning of rue
rue
Alternative forms
rewe (obsolete)
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ɹuː/
Rhymes: -uː
Homophones: roo, roux
Etymology 1
From Middle Englishrewe, reowe, from Old Englishhrēow(“sorrow, regret, penitence, repentance, penance”), from Proto-West Germanic*hreuwu(“pain, sadness, regret, repentance”).
Noun
rue (uncountable)
(archaic or dialectal) Sorrow; repentance; regret.
(archaic or dialectal) Pity; compassion.
Derived terms
rue-bargain
rueful
ruefully
ruefulness
ruesome
ruly
ruth
Translations
Etymology 2
From Middle Englishrewen, ruwen, ruen, reowen, from Old Englishhrēowan(“to rue; make sorry; grieve”), perhaps influenced by Old Norsehryggja(“to distress, grieve”), from Proto-Germanic*hrewwaną(“to sadden; repent”).
Verb
rue (third-person singular simple presentrues, present participleruingorrueing, simple past and past participlerued)
(obsolete, transitive) To cause to repent of sin or regret some past action.
(obsolete, transitive) To cause to feel sorrow or pity.
(transitive) To repent of or regret (some past action or event); to wish that a past action or event had not taken place.
(archaic, intransitive) To feel compassion or pity.
Late 14th century Geoffrey Chaucer, ‘The Franklin's Tale’, Canterbury Tales
Madame, reweth upon my peynes smerte
1842, Nicholas Ridley, The Life of Nicholas Ridley
which stirred men's hearts to rue upon them
(archaic, intransitive) To feel sorrow or regret.
?, Alfred Tennyson, The Death of the Old Year
Old year, we'll dearly rue for you.
Usage notes
Often used in the collocation “rue the day”.
Translations
Etymology 3
From Middle Englishrue, from Anglo-Normanruwe, Old Frenchrue, from Latinrūta, from Ancient Greekῥυτή(rhutḗ).
Noun
rue (pluralrues)
Any of various perennial shrubs of the genus Ruta, especially the herb Ruta graveolens (common rue), formerly used in medicines.
1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.2:
But th'aged Nourse, her calling to her bowre, / Had gathered Rew, and Savine, and the flowre / Of Camphora, and Calamint, and Dill [...].
c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5, 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.
Derived terms
common rue, garden rue (Ruta graveolens)
goat's rue (Galega officinalis)
rue anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides)
Syrian rue (Peganum harmala)
wall rue (Asplenium ruta-muraria)
Translations
Anagrams
-ure, ERU, EUR, Eur., Ure, eur-, eur., ure
Chuukese
Numeral
rue
twenty
French
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ʁy/
Etymology 1
From Old Frenchrue, developed figuratively from Latinrūga(“wrinkle”).
Noun
ruef (pluralrues)
street, road
Derived terms
ruelle
vélorue
Etymology 2
From Old Frenchrue, rude, from Latinrūta, from Ancient Greekῥυτή(rhutḗ).
Noun
ruef (pluralrues)
rue (the plant)
Etymology 3
From ruer
Verb
rue
first-person singular present indicative of ruer
third-person singular present indicative of ruer
first-person singular present subjunctive of ruer
third-person singular present subjunctive of ruer
second-person singular imperative of ruer
Further reading
“rue” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Kabuverdianu
Verb
rue
gossip
References
Gonçalves, Manuel (2015) Capeverdean Creole-English dictionary, →ISBN
Latin
Verb
rue
second-person singular present active imperative of ruō
Middle English
Alternative forms
ruwe, rwe, rewe, reuwe, rew
Etymology
Borrowed from Anglo-Normanruwe, from Latinrūta, from Ancient Greekῥυτή(rhutḗ).
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ˈriu̯(ə)/
Rhymes: -iu̯(ə)
Noun
rue
A kind of plant belonging to the genus Ruta; rue.
(rare) meadow-rue (plants in the genus Thalictrum)
Descendants
English: rue
Scots: rew
References
“rūe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Norman
Etymology
From Old Frenchrue, developed figuratively from Latinruga(“wrinkle”).