Etymologically
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complaint

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 04:32. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kəmˈpleɪnt/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English compleynte, borrowed from Old French complainte (“complaint, lament”),[2][3][4] a noun use of the feminine past participle of complaindre “to lament” (see complain and plaint).[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A plaintive poem, about 1368 in the OED, and the action of complaining, lament, about 1384.[6] Etymonline has grief and lament, and also a statement of grievances, in the late 14th century.[2]

Semantic evolution

An outcry against injury suffered is from 1374, and a statement of a grievance from about 1385.[6] In law a formal accusation, and in the United States the plaintiff's case in a civil action, followed.[2][6] The matter complained of is from before 1699, 1745 in Etymonline.[6][2] A bodily ailment, especially a chronic one, is from 1705,[6][2] often generalized in US colloquial use as complaints.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1368 – a plaintive poem.[6]
  • 1374 – an outcry against wrong.[6]
  • c. 1384 – lament.[6]
  • c. 1385 – a statement of grievance.[6]
  • 1705 – a bodily ailment.[6][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A statement that something is wrong or unsatisfactory.
  2. A cause for complaining; a grievance.
  3. An illness or ailment, especially a mild one.
  4. (law) A formal charge or the plaintiff's statement of a claim in a civil action.

Word family

  • countercomplaint
  • summer complaint

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press