different between sigh vs lisp

English

Etymology

From Middle English sihen, from Old English s?can. (The OE infinitive would have given ME forms with /t?/ or /k/, which are both attested, so the /h/ form is probably a back-formation from the preterite sihte.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sa?/
• Rhymes: -a?
• Homophones: sie, sai, psi, xi, scye, Si, Sy, Cy

Verb

sigh (third-person singular simple present sighs, present participle sighing, simple past and past participle sighed)

1. (intransitive) To inhale a larger quantity of air than usual, and immediately expel it; to make a deep single audible respiration, especially as the result or involuntary expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, frustration, or the like.

2. (intransitive) To lament; to grieve.

   • He sighed deeply in his spirit.

3. (intransitive, transitive) To utter sighs over; to lament or mourn over.
   • 1695, Matthew Prior, An ode presented to the king, on His Majesty's arrival in Holland, after the Queen's death

     Ages to come, and men unborn, / Shall bless her name, and sigh her fate.

4. (intransitive) To experience an emotion associated with sighing.

5. (intransitive) To make a sound like sighing.
   • 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

     And the coming wind did roar more loud, / And the sails did sigh like sedge.

   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, The Death of the Old Year

     The winter winds are wearily sighing.

6. (transitive) To exhale (the breath) in sighs.
7. (transitive) To express by sighs; to utter in or with sighs.
   • 1763, John Hoole (translator), Jerusalem Delivered (by Torquato Tasso

     The gentle swain […] sighs back her grief.

Synonyms

• (all): sithe (obsolete)

Translations

Noun

sigh (plural sighs)

1. A deep, prolonged audible inhale and exhale of breath; as when fatigued, frustrated, grieved, or relieved; the act of sighing.
   • 1913, Eleanor Porter, Pollyanna, Chapter 7:

     To Pollyanna the air was all the more stifling after that cool breath of the out of doors; but she did not complain. She only drew a long quivering sigh.

2. Figuratively, a manifestation of grief; a lament.
3. (Cockney rhyming slang) A person who is bored.

Derived terms

• yawn-sigh

Translations

Interjection

sigh

1. An expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, frustration, or the like, often used in casual written contexts.

   Sigh, I'm so bored at work today.

Translations

Anagrams

• Gish, gish

English

Alternative forms

• lipsey
• lithp (humorous)

Etymology

From Middle English lispen, lipsen, wlispen, from Old English *wlispian (attested in ?wlyspian (“to lisp”)), from Old English wlisp, wlips (“stammering, lisping”, adj), from Proto-Germanic *wlispaz (“lisping”), from Proto-Indo-European *wlis-, *wleys- (“rod”), from *wel- (“to turn, roll”). Cognate with Middle Low German wlispen (“to lisp”), Dutch lispen (“to lisp”), German lispeln (“to lisp”), Danish læspe (“to lisp”), Swedish läspa (“to lisp”).

Pronunciation

• Standard: IPA^(key): /l?sp/
• Humorous:
  1. IPA^(key): /l??p/
  2. IPA^(key): /l?l?sp/
• Rhymes: -?sp

Noun

lisp (plural lisps)

1. The habit or an act of lisping.

Derived terms

• lispy

Translations

Verb

lisp (third-person singular simple present lisps, present participle lisping, simple past and past participle lisped)

1. To pronounce the consonant ‘s’ imperfectly; to give ‘s’ and ‘z’ the sounds of ‘th’ (/?/, /ð/). This is a speech impediment common among children.

2. To speak with imperfect articulation; to mispronounce, such as a child learning to talk.
3. (archaic) To speak hesitatingly and with a low voice, as if afraid.
   • 1597, Michael Drayton, England's Heroical Epistles

     Lest when my lisping, guilty tongue should halt.

4. (archaic) to express by the use of simple, childlike language.
   • 1848, Henry Walter (editor) William Tyndale (originally author), Doctrinal Treatises and Introductions to Different Portions of the Holy Scriptures

     to speak unto them after their own capacity, and to lisp the words unto them , according as the babes and children of that age might sound them againagain
5. (archaic) To speak with reserve or concealment; to utter timidly or confidentially.
   • 1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds

     "You have done well, sir," said Delwood, calmly, as he placed double the amount of Mrs. Santon's bribe in the Signor's hand; "you have done well, sir; and mark my words,—gold can never relieve a guilty conscience! Go, sir, and see that you lisp not a syllable of this to any one."

Derived terms

• lisper

Translations

See also

• brogue
• drawl
• lallation
• lilt
• twang

Anagrams

• LIPs, LSPI, lips, pils, slip