Etymology

regrettably

R1E1G2R1E1T1T1A1B3L1Y4

Today it means: In a manner inspiring or deserving regret. Full definition →

English regrettable ← Middle English regretten ← Old French regreter
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The story

  1. Proto-Italic*wre-
  2. Latinre-
  3. Old Frenchre-
  4. Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰreh₁d-
  5. Proto-Germanic*grētaną
  6. Frankish*grātan
  7. Old French*greter
  8. Old Frenchregreter
  9. Middle Englishregretten
  10. Englishregret
  11. Englishregrettable
  12. English todayregrettably

From regrettable + -ly.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.