A plaintive sound is high and sad, like a small cry or a thin song that wants comfort. We use it for voices, cries, music, and sometimes a look — a plaintive violin, a plaintive “are you still there?” on the phone.

A plaintive sound哀怨的（plaintive）聲音 is high and sad又高又悲傷，like a small cry or a thin song that wants comfort像一聲小小的哭喊，或一段渴望被安慰的細細的歌聲。We我們 use it for voices, cries, music, and sometimes a look會用在聲音、哭聲、音樂上，有時候也用在表情上——a plaintive violin像 a plaintive violin（哀怨的小提琴聲），a plaintive 'are you still there?' on the phone或電話裡一句哀怨的 'are you still there?'。

It is not a legal word, even though it shares old roots with plaintiff.

It它 is not a legal word不是法律用語，even though it shares old roots with plaintiff雖然它跟 plaintiff（原告）有共同的古老字根。

The feeling is more “aching and a little helpless” than “angry” or “formally complaining.” It belongs to stories and careful description more than to street talk; you would not call a loud protest plaintive. Though actually people do stretch it a little: a plaintive email can mean the writer sounds hurt and pleading, not that the sound is high.

The feeling is more 'aching and a little helpless' than 'angry' or 'formally complaining.'這種感覺比較接近「隱隱作痛、有點無助」，而不是「生氣」或「正式抗議」。It它 belongs to stories and careful description more than to street talk比較屬於故事和細緻的描寫，不太用在street talk（街頭口語）裡；you would not call a loud protest plaintive你不會把一場大聲的抗議叫做 plaintive。Though actually不過其實，people do stretch it a little大家還是會把它用得寬一點：a plaintive email一封 plaintive 的信 can mean the writer sounds hurt and pleading可以是指寫信的人聽起來受傷又在懇求，not that the sound is high而不是指聲音很高。