Moan
verbTo make a low, prolonged sound of pain or distress, or to complain in a grumbling way.
How to spell moan
4 letters · 1 syllable
How to pronounce moan
What does moan mean?
- verbTo make a low, prolonged sound of pain or distress, or to complain in a grumbling way.
- nounA low, prolonged sound expressing pain or grief, or a spell of grumbling.
Moan in a sentence
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verb
The patient began to moan as the painkillers wore off.
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noun
A soft moan escaped her as she lifted the heavy box.
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verb
He likes to moan about the price of train tickets.
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noun
The meeting ended with the usual moan about overtime.
Where does moan come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
Moan comes from the Middle English noun 'mone', meaning a lamentation or a complaint, which is generally linked to the Old English verb 'maenan', meaning 'to complain' or 'to tell of one's sorrow'. The original sense was very much about voicing grief or grievance rather than the wordless sound we often picture today; to 'moan' was to put a complaint into speech. Over the centuries the meaning broadened to cover the low, drawn-out sound a person makes in pain or distress, and later still the everyday sense of grumbling about something. The verb and the noun developed side by side, and the modern spelling settled with the 'oa' vowel that English uses for this long 'oh' sound, as in 'groan' and 'load'. That 'oa' is the main thing to watch, since the word sounds exactly like 'mown', the past participle of 'mow'.
How the word is built
- moan (single root, from Middle English mone: a complaint or lament)
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