plaintive

adjective

1. expressing sorrow or melancholy; mournful: a plaintive melody.

adjective

1. expressing melancholy; mournful

adj.late 14c., “lamenting,” from Old French plaintif “complaining; wretched, miserable,” from plainte (see plaint). Sense of “mournful, sad” first recorded 1570s. Related: Plaintively; plaintiveness.