moan

English

Etymology

From Middle English mone, mane, mān, (also as mene), from Old English *mān, *mǣn (“complaint; lamentation”), from Proto-West Germanic *mainu, from Proto-Germanic *mainō (“opinion; mind”).

Cognate with Old Frisian mēne (“opinion”), Old High German meina (“opinion”). Old English *mān, *mǣn is inferred from Old English mǣnan (“to complain over; grieve; mourn”). More at mean.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: mōn, IPA^(key): /məʊn/
• (US) enPR: mōn, IPA^(key): /moʊn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊn
• Homophone: mown

Noun

moan (plural moans)

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

   let out a deep moan

   We heard the distant moan of a stag in pain.

Translations

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.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

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

   • 1708, Matthew Prior, the Turtle and the Sparrow

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

2. (intransitive, now chiefly poetic) To grieve.
3. (intransitive) To make a moan or similar sound.

   She moaned with pleasure and squirmed with delight from receiving oral sex.

   • 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 , New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 169:

     They shared a common dread that he would begin moaning.

4. (transitive) To say in a moan, or with a moaning voice.

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

5. (intransitive, colloquial) To complain; to grumble.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To distress (someone); to sadden.
   • 1626 February 1 (licensing date), John Fletcher [et al.], “The Faire Maide of the Inne”, in Comedies and Tragedies , London: Humphrey Robinson, , and for Humphrey Moseley , published 1647, →OCLC, Act V, scene i:

     which infinitely moans me

Conjugation

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:complain

Derived terms

Related terms

• bemoan

Translations

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, maon, mona, noma

Breton

Alternative forms

• moen

Etymology

From Middle Breton moen, from Old Breton moin, from Proto-Brythonic *muɨn (“beautiful”). Compare Welsh mwyn (“mild, gentle”)), Irish maoin (“property, riches”)), Latin mūnis (“obliging”), Old English mǣne (“common”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmwãːn/

Adjective

moan

1. thin, slender

   Synonym: tanav

   Antonym: tev

Mutation

Finnish

Noun

moan

1. genitive singular of moa

Anagrams

• Oman, oman

Yola

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔːn/
• Homophone: mawen

Etymology 1

Noun

moan

1. Alternative form of mawen
   • 1927, “ZONG OF TWI MAARKEET MOANS”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 129, line 1:

     A moan vrim a Bearlough an anoor vrim a Baak,

     A woman from the Bearlough and another from the Beak,

   • 1927, “ZONG OF TWI MAARKEET MOANS”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 129, line 7:

     Shu ztaared an shu ztudied hi near parshagh moan,

     She stared and she studied by the other passive woman,

   • 1927, “YOLA ZONG O BARONY VORTH”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 132, line 1:

     Billeen Scalaane an hys yola moan,

     Billy Scallan and his old woman,

Etymology 2

From Middle English mone, from Old English mān, from Proto-West Germanic *mainu.

Noun

moan

1. moan
   • 1927, “LAMENT OF A WIDOW”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 130, line 1:

     Ochone! to fo shul Ich maak mee moan,

     Ochone, to whom shall I make my moan,

References

• Kathleen A. Browne (1927) The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Sixth Series, Vol.17 No.2, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland