Wordwyrt

bemoan

/bɪˈməʊn/bih-MOHN
/bɪˈmoʊn/bih-MOHN

Meaninglament

Common meaning: express sorrow about

‘about, thoroughly’ + ‘complain or lament’ → bemoan

Journey through time

  • be — Old English bi- “about, thoroughly” (path traced)
  • moan — Old English ménan “complain or lament” (path traced)

Parts join in Old English as bimǣnan.

  1. Old Englishbi- + ménan‘about, thoroughly + complain or lament’source
  2. Old Englishbimǣnan‘lament’source
  3. Middle Englishbimenensource
  4. Englishmeaning shiftslament → express sorrow aboutbemoan‘express sorrow about’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Old English bimǣnan, which Skeat analyses as bi- ‘about, thoroughly’ + ménan ‘complain or lament’.

Roots

  • bimǣnan Old English “lament”
  • ménan Old English “complain or lament”

Related words

moan

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