different between shrill vs whistle

English

Etymology

From Late Middle English schrille, shirle, shrille (“of a sound: high-pitched, piercing; producing such a sound”), possibly from the earlier shil, schille (“loud, resounding; high-pitched, shrill; audible, clear; melodious, sweet-sounding”), from Old English scill (“sonorous sounding”), of Germanic origin. The r in the word was introduced by analogy to Middle English skr?ke, skr?ken, scr?men, possibly to avoid confusion with non-Anglian forms of schelle (modern English shell) where Old English scill (“sonorous sounding”) and scill (“shell”) existed.

The word is cognate with Icelandic skella (“crash, bang, slam”), Low German schrell (“sharp in taste or tone”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /???l/
• Rhymes: -?l

Adjective

shrill (comparative shriller, superlative shrillest)

1. High-pitched and piercing.
2. Having a shrill voice.
3. Sharp or keen to the senses.
4. (figuratively, derogatory, especially of a complaint or demand) Fierce, loud, strident.

Coordinate terms

• garish
• strident

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

shrill (third-person singular simple present shrills, present participle shrilling, simple past and past participle shrilled)

1. To make a shrill noise.

Derived terms

• outshrill
• shrilling
• shrillingly

Translations

Noun

shrill (plural shrills)

1. A shrill sound.

Translations

References

English

Etymology

From Middle English whistlen, from Old English hwistlan, hwistlian (“to whistle”), from Proto-Germanic *hwistl?n? (“to make a hissing sound”). Cognate with Icelandic hvísla (“to whisper”), Russian ???????? (svistet?, “to whistle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /w?sl?/, /??sl?/
• Rhymes: -?s?l

Noun

whistle (countable and uncountable, plural whistles)

2. A device designed to be placed in the mouth and blown, or driven by steam or some other mechanism, to make a whistling sound.
3. An act of whistling.
5. A shrill, high-pitched sound made by whistling.
6. Any high-pitched sound similar to the sound made by whistling.

   the whistle of the wind in the trees

7. (Cockney rhyming slang) A suit (from whistle and flute).
8. (colloquial) The mouth and throat; so called as being the organs of whistling.

   • Let's […] drink the other cup to wet our whistles.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

whistle (third-person singular simple present whistles, present participle whistling, simple past and past participle whistled)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make a shrill, high-pitched sound by forcing air through the mouth. To produce a whistling sound, restrictions to the flow of air are created using the teeth, tongue and lips.

   Never whistle at a funeral.

   She was whistling a happy tune.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To make a similar sound by forcing air through a musical instrument or a pipe etc.

   The stream train whistled as it passed by.

3. (intransitive) To move in such a way as to create a whistling sound.

   A bullet whistled past.

4. (transitive) To send, signal, or call by a whistle.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• whistle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Whistle in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• whilest