plangent

English – part of speech: adjective; origin: Latin; usage: mainly literary; meaning: loud, reverberating, and often melancholic; example: “While the slow, melodious pace of an erhu and the occasional beating of a Chinese drum provided a plangent accompaniment to the sad song, she wept for her distant lover.” Latin – infinitive form: plangere; meaning: to beat (not as in beating a human)