Old English sarlice "grievously, mournfully, bitterly, painfully;" see sore (adj.) + -ly (2).

"gangrene caused by anemia due to continued pressure," 1833, from bed (n.) + sore (n.). A kind of ulcer liable to afflict persons long confined in bed and unable to change position.

c. 1300, "a soreness of the eyes" (obsolete); modern sense of "something offensive to the eye" is from 1520s; from eye (n.) + sore (n.). In the sense "eye disease" Old English had eagseoung.

also footsore, "having sore or tender feet, as from much walking," 1719, from foot (n.) + sore (adj.).

Scottish and Northern English form of sore (adj.).

also sorehead, "the head of a sore" (on a sheep), by 1839, from sore (adj.) + head (n.). As "mean, discontented person," American English; the original reference is specific in New York State politics to a faction of Democrats dissatisfied with national party policy who formed the Free Soil party and nominated Martin Van Buren for president.

Later in U.S. political slang generally, "person dissatisfied through lack of recognition or reward for party service" (by 1862). Related: Sore-headed.

Middle English sorwe, from Old English sorg "grief, regret, trouble, care, pain, anxiety," from Proto-Germanic *sorg-, which is perhaps from PIE *swergh- "to worry, be sick" (source also of Sanskrit surksati "cares for," Lithuanian sergu, sirgti "to be sick," Old Church Slavonic sraga "sickness," Old Irish serg "sickness"). Not considered to be connected etymologically with sore (adj.) or sorry. Germanic cognates include Old Saxon sorga, Old Norse sorg, Middle Dutch sorghe, Dutch zorg, Old High German soraga, German sorge, Gothic saurga.

Middle English sori, from Old English sarig "distressed, grieved, full of sorrow" (not found in the physical sense of "sore"), from Proto-Germanic *sairiga- "painful" (source also of Old Saxon serag, Middle Dutch seerigh "sore; sad, sorry," Dutch zeerig "sore, full of sores," Old High German serag, Swedish sårig "sore, full of sores"), from *sairaz "pain" (physical and mental); related to *saira- "suffering, sick, ill" (see sore (adj.)).

The spelling shift from -a- to -o- is by influence of (unrelated) sorrow. Specifically as "repentant, remorseful, contrite" by c. 1200. The meaning "wretched, worthless, poor" is recorded by mid-13c. Simple sorry in an apologetic sense (short for I'm sorry) is suggested by 1834; the phrase sorry about that seems to have been popularized mid-1960s by U.S. TV show "Get Smart." To be sorry for (something) is in late Old English. Related: Sorrily; sorriness.