plaintive

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈpleɪntɪv/ UK /ˈpleɪntɪv/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
sounding sad and mournful

A plaintive melody drifted from the lonely violinist.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · sounding sad and mournful mournful sorrowful melancholy doleful wistful sad lugubrious piteous

Opposites

cheerful joyful jubilant

Word family

Forms plaintivelyplaintiveness

Derived forms plaintivelyplaintiveness

Related forms plaint plaintiff complaint

Simplified etymology

Plaintive entered late Middle English through Old French plainte, “lamentation,” from Latin plangere, “to beat” or “lament.”

Etymology

From Old French plaintif ('lamenting, complaining'), from plainte ('lamentation'), from Latin planctus, from plangere ('to beat, lament').

plaintif Old French planctus Latin plangere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# plaintive

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈpleɪntɪv/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈpleɪntɪv/

## Meanings
1. sounding sad and mournful

## Examples
- A plaintive melody drifted from the lonely violinist.

## Synonyms
- mournful
- sorrowful
- melancholy
- doleful
- wistful
- sad
- lugubrious
- piteous

## Antonyms
- cheerful
- joyful
- jubilant

## Derived Forms
- plaintively
- plaintiveness

## Related Forms
- plaint
- plaintiff
- complaint

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: plaintif
- Root: planctus
- Root: plangere

## Etymology
From Old French plaintif ('lamenting, complaining'), from plainte ('lamentation'), from Latin planctus, from plangere ('to beat, lament').

## AI Etymology
Plaintive is from Old French plaintif ('lamenting, complaining'), from plainte ('lamentation'), from Latin planctus, from plangere ('to beat, lament'). Important recorded forms include plaintif (Old French), planctus (Latin), and plangere (Latin). The modern sense follows that older lexical line closely. In current use it covers sounding sad and mournful. The wider family includes derived forms such as plaintively and plaintiveness and related words such as plaint, plaintiff, and complaint.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown