PLAINT

PRONUNCIATION: (playnt)

MEANING: noun: 1. Complaint. 2. Protest. 3. Lamentation.

ETYMOLOGY: From from Old French plainte (complaint, cry), from Latin planctus (lamentation), from plangere (to beat one’s breast). Ultimately from the Indo-European root plak- (to strike), which also gave us plaintiff, plague, plankton, fling, complain, apoplectic and plangent. Earliest documented use: 1225.

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PLAINST - most undistinguished

SLAINT - What St George hath done to the Dragon

SPLAINT - I told you all about it already!