Skip to main content
PlainSpell

moan

/moʊn/noun, verb, adjective

moan is spelled M-O-A-N: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 17,813th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, moan means “A low, mournful cry of pain, sorrow or pleasure” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of moan is moans.

How many letters and syllables are in moan?

Letters4: M-O-A-N
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.3 times per million words; the 17,813th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is moan?

Moan appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 17,813th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce moan?

  • UK /məʊn/
  • US /moʊn/

Moan has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-moan.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with moan

Also written: mone.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with moan?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as moan from its last stressed vowel (/oʊn/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: mona, mano, noma, maon.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of moan

  • moans plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • moaning participle, present
  • moaned participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • more moan comparative
  • most moan superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does moan mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

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

    let out a deep moan

  2. 2

    obsoleteA lament or sorrow.

    to make one's moan

verb

  1. 1

    UKTo complain about; to bemoan, to bewail; to mourn.

  2. 2

    To grieve.

  3. 3

    To make a moan or similar sound.

    She moaned with pleasure and squirmed with delight from receiving oral sex.

  4. 4

    To say in a moan, or with a moaning voice.

    ‘Please don't leave me,’ he moaned.

  5. 5

    colloquialTo complain; to grumble.

  6. 6

    obsoleteTo distress (someone); to sadden.

adjective

  1. 1

    Of or pertaining to a moa.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate moan?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of moan: BMW.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Moan in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchgémissement (a low cry of pain), se plaindre, geindre (to complain), gémir, mugir (to make a moan or similar sound)
GermanStöhnen, Ächzen (a low cry of pain), klagen, beklagen (to complain), stöhnen (to make a moan or similar sound), wehklagen (to grieve (poetic))
Portuguesegemido, lamento (a low cry of pain), queixar-se, reclamar (to complain), gemer (to make a moan or similar sound)
Spanishgemido, quejido (a low cry of pain), quejar (to complain), gemir (to make a moan or similar sound)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does moan come 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”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after moan