plangent
/ˈplænd͡ʒənt/adjective
plangent is an adjective meaning “Having a loud, mournful sound” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled P-L-A-N-G-E-N-T, and it appears about once in every 35 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does plangent mean?
adjective
- 1
Having a loud, mournful sound.
- 2
rareBeating, dashing, as waves.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce plangent?
- /ˈplænd͡ʒənt/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-plangent.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of plangent
- more plangent comparative
- most plangent superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is plangent?
Plangent appears about once in every 35 million words in written English, the 182,517th 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).
Plangent in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense having a loud mournful sound:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | retentissant |
| German | klagend |
| Portuguese | plangente |
| Spanish | plañidero, quejumbroso, triste, consternado |
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 plangent come from?
From Latin plangēns, present participle of plangō (“to beat; to lament”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).