Complaint

How to spell complaint

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce complaint

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does complaint mean?

1. nounA statement that something is unsatisfactory or unacceptable, or an act of expressing dissatisfaction.
2. nounAn illness or medical condition, especially a minor or recurring one.

Complaint in a sentence

• The manager logged every customer complaint in the system.

• The doctor asked him to describe his main complaint before the examination.

• She filed a formal complaint with the housing office about the noise.

• A stomach complaint kept her home from work for two days.

Where does complaint come from?

Language of origin: French

The word comes ultimately from the Latin verb complangere, meaning 'to bewail' or 'to lament loudly', built from the intensifying prefix com- and plangere, which literally meant 'to beat' and especially 'to beat the breast in grief'. That same plangere root lies behind the English word 'plangent', used of a loud, mournful sound. The Latin verb passed into Old French as complaindre, and from its feminine past participle came the noun complainte, meaning an expression of grief or grievance. English borrowed it in the late 1300s, and over time the sense broadened from purely emotional lamenting to the everyday idea of formally stating that something is wrong, and later to naming a bodily ailment. The silent-feeling 'ai' in the ending traces straight back to that French complainte, which is worth remembering when choosing 'aint' over a plain 'ant'.

How the word is built

• com- (intensive, from Latin)
• plain (lament, from plangere: to beat the breast)
• -t (noun-forming ending)