wail
n.n. a long, high, and sad sound. You often hear this when a person is crying or when a dog is howling.
n. a long, high, and mournful cry or sound. Often used to describe the vocalizations of animals or the emotional expressions of humans.
The dog's wail echoed through the empty house.
The child's wail could be heard from the next street over as he waited for his mother to return.
The mournful wail of the saxophone filled the concert hall, capturing the deep sorrow of the composer's final work.
c. 1300, Middle English weilen, waylen (“to sob, cry, wail”), from Old Norse væla (“to wail”), from væ, vei (“woe”), from Proto-Germanic wai (whence also Old English wā (“woe”) (English woe)), from Proto-Indo-European wáy. The verb is first attested in the intransitive sense; the transitive sense developed in mid-14ᵗʰ c.. The noun came from the verb.
From Old Norse val (“choice”). Compare Icelandic velja (“to choose”). More at wale.