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plaint

(plānt)

1. A complaint.

2. An utterance of grief or sorrow; a lamentation.

[Middle English, from Old French plainte, from Latin plānctus, lament, from past participle of plangere, to strike one's breast, lament; see plāk-² in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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