Wordwyrt

forlorn

/fəˈlɔːn/fur-LAWRN
/fɚˈlɔɹn/fur-LAWRN

Meaningutterly lost

Common meaning: lonely and sad

‘away’ + ‘lost (past participle of lēosan, to lose)’ → forlorn

Journey through time

  • for — Old English for- “away; wrongly; utterly” (path traced)
  • lorn — Old English loren “lost (past participle of lēosan, to lose)” (path traced)

Parts join in Old English as forloren.

  1. Old Englishfor- + loren‘away; wrongly; utterly + lost (past participle of lēosan, to lose)’source
  2. Old Englishforloren‘destroyed, lost’source
  3. Middle Englishforlornsource
  4. Englishmeaning shiftsdestroyed, lost → lonely and sadforlorn‘lonely and sad’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Old English forloren, which Skeat analyses as for- ‘away; wrongly; utterly’ + loren ‘lost (past participle of lēosan, to lose)’.

Roots

  • forloren Old English “lost”
  • loren Old English “lost (past participle of lēosan, to lose)”

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