# lament

> English word · Noun · IPA /ləˈmɛnt/ · frequency rank #20,982

## Definitions
1. An expression of grief, suffering, sadness or regret.
2. A song expressing grief.

## Etymology
A back-formation from lamentation or else from Middle French lamenter and its etymon Latin lāmentor (“I wail, weep”), from lāmentum (“wailing, moaning, weeping”); with formative -mentum, from the root *la-, probably ultimately imitative. Also see latrare.

## Easily confused with
- **lent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lament-vs-lent)
- **lumen** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lament-vs-lumen)
- **latest** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lament-vs-latest)
- **latent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lament-vs-latent)
- **lucent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lament-vs-lucent)
- **Laurent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lament-vs-laurent)
- **ligament** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lament-vs-ligament)
- **lamented** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lament-vs-lamented)
- **lame** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lame-vs-lament)
- **laden** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/laden-vs-lament)
- **Lambert** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lambert-vs-lament)

## Common misspellings (9)
`alment`, `laemnt`, `lamennt`, `lamentt`, `lametn`, `lamment`, `lamnet`, `llament`, `lmaent`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/lament