crying in pain; lamentation
Literary or classical term for weeping or lamenting from pain or grief. Rare in modern everyday speech; more common equivalents include 嘆き (なげき) or 悲嘆 (ひたん).
Scenes of lamentation are often depicted in classical literature.
Rare kanji spelling; the word itself is literary and uncommon.
Variant kanji form using 歎 instead of 嘆; equally rare.
Compound of 傷 (しょう, wound, pain) and 嘆 (たん, lament, sigh). The exact historical derivation is uncertain; the spelling is conventionally associated with the meaning of crying from pain.