penitent
PEN-ih-tuntadjMeaning sorry for doing wrong and wanting to make up for it
Memory hook a PEN and TEN sorrys. After breaking Granny’s teapot, Pip takes a pen and writes “Sorry!” ten times on a big card, then offers to wash her dishes all week; he is penitent.
The penitent boy swept up every bit of the vase he had knocked over.
In context Unlike his brother, who shrugged off the scolding, Sam was penitent: he apologized to the neighbor and offered to mow her lawn for a month.
Similar repentant, remorseful, sorry, regretful
Opposite unrepentant, impenitent, defiant
From Latin paenitens, “regretting,” from paenitere (to regret).