different between explain vs whine

English

Etymology

From Middle English explanen, from Old French explaner, from Latin explan? (“I flatten, spread out, make plain or clear, explain”), from ex- (“out”) + plan? (“I flatten, make level”), from planus (“level, plain”); see plain and plane. Compare esplanade, splanade. Displaced Old English ?ere??an.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?sple?n/, /?k?sple?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n

Verb

explain (third-person singular simple present explains, present participle explaining, simple past and past participle explained)

1. To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.
2. To give a valid excuse for past behavior.
3. (obsolete) To make flat, smooth out.
4. (obsolete) To unfold or make visible.
   • April 14, 1684, John Evelyn, a letter sent to the Royal Society concerning the damage done to his gardens by the preceding winter

     The horse-chestnut is […] ready to explain its leaf.

5. (intransitive) To make something plain or intelligible.

Synonyms

• (give a sufficiently detailed report): expound, elaborate, recce

Derived terms

• afore-explained
• explain away
• explainer
• mansplain
• please explain
• -splain

Related terms

• explanation
• explanatory

Translations

Further reading

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

English

Etymology

From Middle English whynen, hwinen, whinen, from Old English hw?nan (“to rush, to whizz, to squeal, to whine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hw?nan, from Proto-Germanic *hw?nan?, from Proto-Indo-European *?wey- (“to hiss, whistle, whisper”). Cognate with Old Norse hvína, whence Icelandic hvína, Norwegian hvine, Swedish vina, and Danish hvine.

Despite the strong similarity in sound and meaning, not related with German weinen, Dutch wenen, from Proto-Germanic *wain?n?.

Pronunciation

• enPR: w?n, IPA^(key): /wa?n/, [?a??n], [????n], [?ä?n], [??e?n]
• (without the wine–whine merger) enPR: hw?n, IPA^(key): /?a?n/
• Rhymes: -a?n
• Homophone: wine (accents with the wine-whine merger)

Noun

whine (plural whines)

1. A long-drawn, high-pitched complaining cry or sound.
2. A complaint or criticism.

Translations

Verb

whine (third-person singular simple present whines, present participle whining, simple past and past participle whined)

1. (intransitive) To utter a high-pitched cry.
2. (intransitive) To make a sound resembling such a cry.

   The jet engines whined at take off.

3. (intransitive) To complain or protest with a whine or as if with a whine.
4. (intransitive) To move with a whining sound.

5. (transitive) To utter with the sound of a whine.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:complain

Translations

Middle English

Verb

whine

1. Alternative form of whynen