Wailing
/ˈweɪ.lɪŋ/noun
The act of crying out in grief, pain, or intense lamentation.
Did you know?Wail belongs to a very old Germanic root for crying out; in many traditional cultures, loud lamentation was treated almost like a ritual force that could honor the dead or summon communal grief.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*u̯el-
“to cry out, call, or lament”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*wailōną
“to lament, cry out”
Old English
OE
wælan
“to lament, bewail”
Middle English
ME
wailen
“to cry aloud in grief or sorrow”
Modern English
English
wailing
“crying out loudly in grief, pain, or anguish”