overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

moan.

A low, mournful cry of pain, sorrow or pleasure.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/məʊn/Received-Pronunciation/moʊn/US
  1. A low, mournful cry of pain, sorrow or pleasure.

    let out a deep moan
    We heard the distant moan of a stag in pain.
  2. A lament or sorrow.

    obsolete
    to make one's moan
Where this word comes from

From Middle English mone, mane, mān, (also as mene), from Old English *mān, *mǣn (“complaint; lamentation”), from Proto-West Germanic *mainu, from Proto-Germanic *mainō (“opinion; mind”). Cognate with Old Frisian mēne (“opinion”), Old High German meina (“opinion”). Old English *mān, *mǣn is inferred from Old English mǣnan (“to complain over; grieve; mourn”). More at mean.

verb/məʊn/Received-Pronunciation/moʊn/US
  1. To complain about; to bemoan, to bewail; to mourn.

    UK · transitive
  2. To grieve.

    intransitive · poetic
  3. To make a moan or similar sound.

    intransitive
    She moaned with pleasure and squirmed with delight from receiving oral sex.
  4. To say in a moan, or with a moaning voice.

    transitive
    ‘Please don't leave me,’ he moaned.
  5. To complain; to grumble.

    colloquial · intransitive
  6. To distress (someone); to sadden.

    obsolete · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English mone, mane, mān, (also as mene), from Old English *mān, *mǣn (“complaint; lamentation”), from Proto-West Germanic *mainu, from Proto-Germanic *mainō (“opinion; mind”). Cognate with Old Frisian mēne (“opinion”), Old High German meina (“opinion”). Old English *mān, *mǣn is inferred from Old English mǣnan (“to complain over; grieve; mourn”). More at mean.

adj/məʊn/Received-Pronunciation/moʊn/US
  1. Of or pertaining to a moa.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree English moa Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Italic *-nos Proto-Italic *-ānos Latin -ānus Old French -ainder. Middle English -an English -an English moan From moa + -an.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

moan has 4 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

moan studiomoan workshello, moan

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.