plaintiff

English

Etymology

From Middle English plaintif, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French plaintif (“complaining”; as a noun, “one who complains, a plaintiff”) from the verb plaindre. Doublet of plaintive.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpleɪntɪf/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪntɪf

Noun

plaintiff (plural plaintiffs)

1. (law, UK historical, otherwise current) A party bringing a suit in civil law against a defendant; accuser.

   Synonyms: actor, (English and Singapore law) claimant, complainant, litigant, (Scots law) pursuer

   Antonym: defendant

   Hypernyms: litigant, litigator

   Hyponyms: petitioner, suer

Usage notes

Plaintiff is used in civil law, and should not be confused with complainant, the alleged victim in a criminal prosecution (who is not a party to the legal proceeding).

Derived terms

• plaintiff in error

Related terms

• plaintive

Translations

party bringing a suit in civil law against a defendant

• Albanian: paditës (sq) m, paditëse f
• Arabic: (indefinite) مُدَّعٍ m (muddaʕin), (definite) الْمُدَّعِي (al-muddaʕī)
• Armenian: հայցվոր (hy) (haycʻvor)
• Azerbaijani: iddiaçı (az)
• Belarusian: ісце́ц m (iscjéc), iсьце́ц m (isʹcjéc)
• Bengali: মুদ্দই (bn) (muddoi)
• Bulgarian: тъжи́тел (bg) m (tǎžítel), тъжи́телка f (tǎžítelka), ище́ц (bg) m (ištéc), ищца́ f (ištcá)
• Burmese: တရားလို (my) (ta.ra:lui)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 原告 (jyun⁴ gou³)

  Mandarin: 原告 (zh) (yuángào)

• Czech: žalobce (cs) m, žalobkyně f
• Danish: sagsøger c
• Dutch: eiser (nl) m, aanklager (nl) m
• Esperanto: plendanto
• Estonian: hageja (et)
• Faroese: stevnandi m
• Finnish: kantaja (fi)
• French: demandeur (fr), demandeuse (fr) f, plaignant (fr) m, plaignante (fr) f
• Georgian: მოსარჩელე (mosarčele)
• German: Kläger (de) m, Klägerin (de) f
• Hebrew: תּוֹבֵעַ m (tovéa), ^{(please verify)} מְבַקֵּשׁ m (mevakesh)
• Hindi: अभियोगी (hi) m (abhiyogī), वादी (hi) m (vādī)
• Hungarian: felperes (hu)
• Icelandic: stefnandi m
• Indonesian: penggugat (id)
• Interlingua: demandator
• Irish: éilitheoir m, gearánaí m
• Italian: querelante (it) m, parte civile f, ricorrente (it) m, attore (it) m
• Japanese: 原告 (ja) (げんこく, genkoku)
• Kazakh: қуынушы (quynuşy), талапкер (talapker), даулаушы (daulauşy)
• Khmer: ដើមចោទ (km) (daəmcaot), ចោទកៈ (km) (caotĕəʼkaʼ)
• Korean: 원고(原告) (ko) (won'go)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: daweker (ku), dewedar (ku), dozker (ku), dozdar (ku)

• Kyrgyz: доочу (ky) (doocu)
• Lao: ໂຈດ (chōt), ສະກະວາທີ (sa ka wā thī)
• Latin: petītor m, petītrix f
• Latvian: prasītājs m, prasītāja f
• Lithuanian: ieškovas m, ieškovė f
• Macedonian: тужител m (tužitel), тужителка f (tužitelka), жалител m (žalitel), жалителка f (žalitelka)
• Malay: plaintif
• Malayalam: വാദി (ml) (vādi)
• Manchu: ᡥᠠᠪᡧᠠᡥᠠ
  ᠨᡳᠶ᠋ᠠᠯᠮᠠ (habšaha niyalma)
• Maori: kaiwhakapae
• Middle English: actour
• Mongolian:

  Classical Mongolian: ᠵᠠᠭᠠᠯᠳᠤᠭᠰᠠᠨ
  ᠬᠦ᠋ᠮᠦᠨ (ǰaɣalduɣsan kümün)

  Cyrillic: заалдагч (mn) (zaaldagč)

  Mongolian: ᠵᠠᠭ᠋ᠠᠯᠳ᠋ᠤᠭᠴᠢ (ǰaɣalduɣči)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: saksøker m

  Nynorsk: saksøkjar m

• Pashto: مدعي m (moda'i), شاکي m (šākī), دعوا لرونکی m (da'wā 'larunkay)
• Persian: خواهان (fa) (xâhân), شاکی (fa) (šâki), دعویٰ گر (da'vâ gar), دعویٰ دار (da'vâ dâr), مدعی (fa) (modda'i)
• Polish: powód (pl) m, powódka f
• Portuguese: querelante (pt) m or f, acusação (pt) f, promotoria (pt)
• Romanian: reclamant (ro) m, reclamantă (ro) f
• Russian: исте́ц (ru) m (istéc)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: жа̀лилац m

  Roman: žàlilac (sh) m

• Slovak: žalobca m, žalobkyňa f
• Slovene: tožnik m, tožnica f
• Spanish: demandante (es), querellante (es)
• Swedish: kärande (sv) c
• Tagalog: nagsasakdal
• Tajik: даъвогар (daʾvogar), муддаӣ (muddai)
• Tatar: дәгъвачы (tt) (däğwaçı)
• Thai: โจทก์ (th) (jòot)
• Turkish: davacı (tr), iddiacı (tr)
• Ukrainian: позива́ч m (pozyváč), пози́вач m (pozývač), позива́чка f (pozyváčka), пози́вачка f (pozývačka)
• Urdu: مُدَّعِی m (mudda'ī)
• Uzbek: daʻvogar
• Vietnamese: nguyên cáo (vi), nguyên đơn (vi)
• Welsh: achwynydd m, achwynwr m
• Yakut: үҥээччи (üñeecci)

Further reading

• “plaintiff”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “plaintiff”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.