Hiss

How to spell hiss

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce hiss

What does hiss mean?

1. verbTo make a sharp, sustained sibilant sound, or to express disapproval with such a sound.
2. nounA sharp sibilant sound, like that of a snake or escaping gas.

Hiss in a sentence

• verb

  The snake began to hiss when the keeper approached the glass.

• noun

  A faint hiss told the mechanic that the tyre was losing air.

• verb

  Steam started to hiss from the cracked radiator valve.

• noun

  The old recording was marred by a constant background hiss.

Where does hiss come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word hiss is imitative, or onomatopoeic, in origin, which means it was coined to mimic the very sound it describes: the drawn-out sibilant noise made by a snake, a kettle, or escaping air. It is first recorded in English in the late 1300s, and writers of that period used it freely because the double 's' so naturally captured the prolonged whistling sound. Many European languages have closely matching imitative forms, since the sound itself suggests its own spelling. There is no foreign root to trace beyond this echoic instinct; the word simply grew out of the noise. The double 's' that catches some writers is exactly what makes the spelling so faithful to the sound it represents.

How the word is built

• hiss (imitative root mimicking a sustained sibilant sound)