different between croak vs complain

English

Etymology

From Middle English *croken, crouken, (also represented by craken > crake), back-formation from Old English cr?cettan (“to croak”) (also in derivative cr?cettung (“croaking”)), from Proto-Germanic *kr?k- (compare Swedish kråka, German krächzen), from Proto-Indo-European *greh?-k- (compare Latin gr?culus (“jackdaw”), Serbo-Croatian grákati).

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: kr?k, IPA^(key): /k?o?k/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kr?k, IPA^(key): /k???k/
• Rhymes: -??k

Noun

croak (plural croaks)

1. A faint, harsh sound made in the throat.
2. The cry of a frog or toad. (see also ribbit)
3. The harsh cry of various birds, such as the raven or corncrake, or other creatures.

Translations

Verb

croak (third-person singular simple present croaks, present participle croaking, simple past and past participle croaked)

1. (intransitive) To make a croak.
2. (transitive) To utter in a low, hoarse voice.
3. (intransitive, of a frog, toad, raven, or various other birds or animals) To make its cry.
4. (slang) To die.
5. (transitive, slang) To kill someone or something.

   He'd seen my face, so I had to croak him.

   • 1925, G. K. Chesterton, The Arrow of Heaven (first published in Nash's Pall Mall Magazine, Jul 1925)

     If Wilton croaked the criminal he did a jolly good day's work, and there's an end of it.

6. To complain; especially, to grumble; to forebode evil; to utter complaints or forebodings habitually.

   • Marat […] croaks with such reasonableness.

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English complaynen, from Old French complaindre, from Medieval Latin complangere (“to bewail, complain”), from Latin com- (“together”) + plangere (“to strike, beat, as the breast in extreme grief, bewail”); see plain, plaint.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?m?ple?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n

Verb

complain (third-person singular simple present complains, present participle complaining, simple past and past participle complained)

1. (intransitive) To express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment.
2. (intransitive) To make a formal accusation or bring a formal charge.
3. To creak or squeak, as a timber or wheel.

Synonyms

• grumble
• grouse
• grump
• bitch
• beef
• gripe
• whine
• kvetch
• moan
• whinge
• See also Thesaurus:complain

Translations

Further reading

• complain in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• complain in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• amplicon