complain: [14] Complain goes back to the Latin in verb plangere, source also of English plangent. This was formed on a prehistoric base *plak- (from which we also get plankton), and it originally meant ‘hit’. Its meaning developed metaphorically through ‘beat one’s breast’ to ‘lament’, and in medieval Latin it was combined with the intensive prefix com- to produce complangere. When it entered English via Old French complaindre it still meant ‘lament’, and although this sense had died out by about 1700, traces of it remain in ‘complain of’ a particular illness. Complaint [14] came from Old French complainte. => plangent, plankton
complain (v.)
late 14c., "find fault, lament," from stem of Old French complaindre "to lament" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *complangere, originally "to beat the breast," from Latin com-, intensive prefix (see com-), + plangere "to strike, beat the breast" (see plague (n.)). Older sense of "lament" died out 17c. Related: Complained; complaining.
中文解释
1、com- "intensive prefix" + -plain-.2、originally "beat the breast, lament (by beating the breast)". => 抱怨，诉苦，发牢骚。3、成语“捶胸顿足”形象地诠释了词根-plain-的引申义，可以说是心有灵犀，有异曲同工之妙。
实用例句
1. If you're not satisfied with the life you're living, don't just complain. Do something about it.
对于现况的不满，不能只是抱怨，要有勇气作出改变。
来自金山词霸 每日一句
2. Faculty members complain that their students are unprepared to do college-level work.
学院的老师们抱怨说他们的学生还很不适应大学的课业。
来自柯林斯例句
3. He came to complain about the volume of the music.
他过来抱怨音乐的音量太高了。
来自柯林斯例句
4. People usually complain about having to deal with too much bureaucracy.
人们经常抱怨不得不应付太多的繁文缛节。
来自柯林斯例句
5. If you are not happy about a repair, go back and complain.