different between shriek vs moan

English

Alternative forms

• shreek (obsolete)

Etymology

From obsolete shrick (1567), shreke, variants of earier screak, skricke (bef. 1500), from Middle English scrycke, from a Scandinavian language (compare Swedish skrika, Icelandic skríkja), from Proto-Germanic *skr?kijan?, *skrik- (compare English screech). More at screech.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??i?k/
• Rhymes: -i?k

Noun

shriek (plural shrieks)

1. A sharp, shrill outcry or scream; a shrill wild cry such as is caused by sudden or extreme terror, pain, or the like.

   • Shrieks, clamours, murmurs, fill the frighted town.

   • 1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 5:

     Sabor, the lioness, was a wise hunter. To one less wise the wild alarm of her fierce cry as she sprang would have seemed a foolish thing, for could she not more surely have fallen upon her victims had she but quietly leaped without that loud shriek?

2. (Britain, slang) An exclamation mark.

Translations

Verb

shriek (third-person singular simple present shrieks, present participle shrieking, simple past and past participle shrieked)

1. (intransitive) To utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry, as do some birds and beasts; to scream, as in a sudden fright, in horror or anguish.
   • At this she shriek'd aloud; the mournful train / Echoed her grief.
2. (transitive) To utter sharply and shrilly; to utter in or with a shriek or shrieks.
   • 1817, Thomas Moore, Lalla-Rookh

     She shrieked his name to the dark woods.

Derived terms

• ashriek

Translations

Anagrams

• Ihrkes, hikers, shrike

English

Etymology

From Middle English mone, mane, m?n, (also as mene), from Old English *m?n, *m?n (“complaint; lamentation”), from Proto-Germanic *main? (“opinion; mind”). Cognate with Old Frisian m?ne (“opinion”), Old High German meina (“opinion”). Old English *m?n, *m?n is inferred from Old English m?nan (“to complain over; grieve; mourn”). More at mean.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /m??n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /mo?n/
• Rhymes: -??n
• Homophone: mown

Noun

moan (plural moans)

1. a low, mournful cry of pain, sorrow or pleasure

Translations

Verb

moan (third-person singular simple present moans, present participle moaning, simple past and past participle moaned)

1. (transitive, now rare) To complain about; to bemoan, to bewail; to mourn. [from 13th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.7:

     Much did the Craven seeme to mone his case […].

   • 1708, Matthew Prior, the Turtle and the Sparrow

     Ye floods, ye woods, ye echoes, moan / My dear Columbo, dead and gone.

2. (intransitive, now chiefly poetic) To grieve. [from 14th c.]
3. (transitive, obsolete) To distress (someone); to sadden. [15th-17th c.]

   • which infinitely moans me

4. (intransitive) To make a moan or similar sound. [from 18th c.]
5. (transitive) To say in a moan, or with a moaning voice. [from 19th c.]

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

6. (intransitive, colloquial) To complain; to grumble. [from 20th c.]

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:complain

Derived terms

• moaner
• moany

Related terms

• bemoan

Translations

See also

• murmur
• protest
• lament

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• Amon, Mano, Mona, NOMA, Noam, Oman, Onam, mano, maon, mona, noma

Breton

Alternative forms

• moen

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *mu?n (“beautiful”) (compare Welsh mwyn (“mild, gentle”)), from Proto-Celtic *moinis (“treasure, precious object”) (compare Irish maoin (“property, riches”)), from Proto-Indo-European *moynis (compare Latin m?nis (“obliging”), Old English m?ne (“common”)), from *mey- (“to change”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?mwã?n/

Adjective

moan

1. thin, slender

   Synonym: tanav

   Antonym: tev

Mutation

Finnish

Noun

moan

1. Genitive singular form of moa.

Anagrams

• Oman, oman