complainant
/kəmˈpleɪnənt/kuhm-PLAY-nuhnt
UK form converted from the US by rule · unchecked/kəmˈpleɪnənt/kuhm-PLAY-nuhnt
Meaningone who complains
Common meaning: a person who brings a legal complaint
Tap a word part to explore
- comwith, together
- plainto beat the breast; to lamentLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1384 · scan
- antadjective ending: being
‘with, together’ + ‘to beat the breast’ → complainant
Journey through time
- Latinplangō, planctum‘to beat the breast’
- Frenchcom
- Englishcomplain‘to voice dissatisfaction’
- Englishformed in English from complaincomplainant‘a person who brings a legal complaint’ · 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: Formed in English from complain + -ant.
Dictionary: Skeat (1898), COMPLAIN, p.125 · scan
Roots
- plangō, planctum Latin “to beat the breast; to lament”
Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app