plaint

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plaint

/pleɪnt/ UK

Rhymes with -eɪnt

Where it comes from

From Middle English plainte, borrowed from Anglo-Norman plainte (“lamentation”), plaint (“lament”), and Old French pleinte (“lamentation”), pleint (“lament”) (modern French plainte), from Medieval Latin plancta (“plaint”), from Latin planctus (“a beating of the breast in lamentation, beating, lamentation”), from Latin plango (“to beat one's breast, to lament”); see plain.

noun plaints

A complaint. she seemed to repeat, though with perceptible resignation, her plaint of a moment before. ‘Your father, darling, is a very odd person indeed.’
archaic, poetic A lament or woeful cry. In the first paroxysm of his grief, Ingolfr exclaimed, (what sorrowing heart has not echoed his plaint?) that he could never more taste of joy.
archaic A sad song.
UK, archaic An accusation. Once the plaint had been made there was nothing that could be done to revoke it.

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MLA

"plaint." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/plaint. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

plaint. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/plaint

Chicago

"plaint." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/plaint.

BibTeX

@misc{plaint_2026,
  title = {plaint},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/plaint},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}