plaint

Etymology

The word comes from Middle English plainte, itself borrowed from Anglo-Norman plainte (“lamentation”) and plaint (“lament”), and from Old French pleinte (“lamentation”) and pleint (“lament”) (surviving as modern French plainte). These trace back to Medieval Latin plancta (“plaint”), from Latin planctus (“a beating of the breast in lamentation, beating, lamentation”), from Latin plango (“to beat one's breast, to lament”); see plain.