mournful

The word "mournful" combines "mourn," derived from Old English murnan (to grieve or be sorrowful), with the suffix "-ful," from Old English -full (full of). The root "mourn" traces back to Proto-Germanic murnaną, reflecting a deep-seated human experience of grief. The suffix "-ful" transforms the verb into an adjective, emphasizing a state saturated with emotion. Over time, "mournful" evolved to describe both the expression of sorrow and things that evoke such feelings.