moan

See also: möän and Moan

English

Etymology

From Middle English mone, mane, mān, (also as mene), from Old English *mān, *mǣn (“complaint; lamentation”), from Proto-Germanic *mainō (“opinion; mind”). Cognate with Old Frisian mēne (“opinion”), Old High German meina (“opinion”). Old English *mān, *mǣn is inferred from . More at mean.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /məʊn/
• IPA^(key): /moʊn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊn
• Homophone: mown

Noun

moan (plural moans)

1. a low, mournful cry of pain, sorrow or pleasure

Translations

a low cry of pain

• Catalan: gemec (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 呻吟 (zh) (shēnyín)

• Czech: nářek m
• Dutch: kreun (nl)
• Esperanto: ĝemado
• Finnish: voihkinta, voihkina, voihke
• French: gémissement (fr) m
• Galician: laio m, laído m
• German: Stöhnen n
• Hungarian: nyögés (hu)
• Irish: ong m (literary)
• Italian: gemito (it) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 呻き (うめき, umeki), 呻き声 (うめきごえ, umekigoe)
• Kurdish: , ,
• Latgalian: voikuošona, gaudys
• Latvian: vaids
• Persian: ناله (fa) (nāle)
• Polish: jęk (pl) m
• Portuguese: gemido (pt) m, lamento (pt) m
• Romanian: geamăt (ro)
• Russian: стон (ru) m (ston)
• Scottish Gaelic: caoidh f
• Spanish: gemido (es) m, quejido (es) m
• Swedish: stönande (sv) n, stön (sv) n

Verb

moan (third-person singular simple present moans, present participle moaning, simple past and past participle moaned)

1. (transitive, now rare) To complain about; to bemoan, to bewail; to mourn. [from 13th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.7:

     Much did the Craven seeme to mone his case […].

   • (Can we date this quote by Prior and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Ye floods, ye woods, ye echoes, moan / My dear Columbo, dead and gone.

2. (intransitive, now chiefly poetic) To grieve. [from 14th c.]
3. (transitive, obsolete) To distress (someone); to sadden. [15th-17th c.]
   • (Can we date this quote by Beaumont and Fletcher and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     which infinitely moans me

4. (intransitive) To make a moan or similar sound. [from 18th c.]
5. (transitive) To say in a moan, or with a moaning voice. [from 19th c.]

   ‘Please don't leave me,’ he moaned.

6. (intransitive, colloquial) To complain; to grumble. [from 20th c.]

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:complain

Derived terms

• moaner
• moany

Related terms

• bemoan

Translations

to make a moan or similar sound

• Asturian: ximir (ast)
• Catalan: gemegar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 呻吟 (zh) (shēnyín)

• Czech: sténat
• Dutch: kreunen (nl)
• Estonian: oigama
• Finnish: voihkia (fi), ähkiä
• French: gémir (fr), mugir (fr)
• German: stöhnen (de)

  Alemannic German: bërsche

• Hungarian: nyög (hu)
• Italian: gemere (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 呻く (うめく, umeku)
• Latgalian: voikuot
• Latvian: vaidēt
• Macedonian: стенка (stenka)
• Maori: wheo, wheowheo, aurere, ngū
• Persian: نالیدن (fa) (nālīdan)
• Polish: jęczeć (pl)
• Portuguese: gemer (pt)
• Romanian: geme (ro)
• Russian: стона́ть (ru) impf (stonátʹ)
• Spanish: gemir (es)
• Swedish: stöna (sv)

to complain

• Catalan: gemegar (ca), llamentar-se, plànyer-se (ca)
• Dutch: klagen (nl)
• French: se plaindre (fr), geindre (fr)
• German:

  Alemannic German: chlaage

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: lamentarsi (it)
• Polish: narzekać (pl)
• Portuguese: queixar-se (pt), reclamar (pt)
• Spanish: quejar (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Kurdish: , , ,
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norman: ^{(please verify)} geindre (Jersey)

See also

• murmur
• protest
• lament

Further reading

• “moan”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “moan”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Amon, Mano, Mona, NOMA, Noam, Oman, Onam, mano, mona, noma

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Breton

Alternative forms

• moen

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) From Proto-Brythonic *muɨn (“beautiful”) (compare Welsh mwyn (“mild, gentle”)), from Proto-Celtic *moinis (“treasure, precious object”) (compare Irish maoin (“property, riches”)), from Proto-Indo-European *moynis (compare Latin mūnis (“obliging”), Old English mǣne (“common”)), from *mey- (“to change”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmwãːn/

Adjective

moan

1. thin, slender

   Synonym: tanav

   Antonym: tev

Mutation

  Mutation of moan  

Breton consonant mutation
	unmutated	soft	aspirate	hard
simple form	moan	voan	never occurs	never occurs
comparative	moanoc'h	voanoc'h	never occurs	never occurs
superlative	moanañ	voanañ	unchanged	unchanged
exclamative	moanat	voanat	unchanged	unchanged

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Finnish

Noun

moan

1. (deprecated template usage) genitive singular of moa

Anagrams

• Oman, oman