| 1 | Middle English | sorely | strongly, forcefully; in a cruel manner;... |
| 2 | Old English | sārlīċ | — |
| 3 | Old English | sār | painful, grievous; ache, wound; sore, ache |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | sair | painful, sore; pain; wound |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | sairą | wound; sore |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | sairaz | sore, painful |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | seh₂yro- | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | seh₂y- | to bind; to be fierce, afflict; to tie, bind |