plangent
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\n \n Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 6, 2024 is:\n \n
\n \n\n plangent • \\PLAN-junt\\ • adjective
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Something, such as a sound, that is described as plangent is loud, deep, and often expressive of sadness or suffering. The word is a synonym of plaintive.
\n\n// The campers were awoken by the plangent howl of a coyote off in the distance.
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\u201cAdjuah sings in a keening, plangent tone, but at one point he pauses to offer a spoken invitation: \u2018Listen to the wind,\u2019 he says. \u2018The voices calling to you from yesterday.\u2019\u201d \u2014 Giovanni Russonello, The New York Times, 30 June 2023
\n \n \n\n Did you know?
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Plangent adds power to our poetry and prose: the pounding of waves, the beat of wings, the tolling of a bell, the throbbing of the human heart, a lover\u2019s knocking at the door\u2014all have been described as plangent. The word plangent traces back to the Latin verb plangere, which has two meanings. The first of those meanings, \u201cto strike or beat,\u201d was sometimes used by Latin speakers in reference to striking one\u2019s breast in grief. This led to the verb\u2019s second meaning, \u201cto lament.\u201d The sense division carried over to the Latin adjective plangens and then into English, giving us two distinct meanings of plangent: \u201cpounding\u201d (as in \u201cthe plangent roar of waves\u201d) and \u201cexpressive of woe, grief, or melancholy.\u201d Like its synonym plaintive, plangent is often used to describe sounds, from bittersweet melodies to the wails of mourners, evoking deep and heartfelt sadness.
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