Whistler

How to spell whistler

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce whistler

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does whistler mean?

1. nounA person who produces a musical or shrill sound by forcing breath through pursed lips or teeth.

Whistler in a sentence

• The cheerful whistler in the next office hummed and piped all morning.

• As a skilled whistler, he could reproduce entire melodies without any instrument.

Where does whistler come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word traces back to the Old English verb hwistlian, meaning 'to make a clear shrill sound by forcing breath through pursed lips', a verb that was imitative in origin: its very sound mimicked the action it described. That early spelling, with its leading hw cluster, helps explain why the modern word still carries a silent h and a silent t that fluent adults tend to drop in writing. Adding the agent suffix -er produced 'one who whistles', a formation English has long used to turn a verb into a doer (as in baker or singer). Over the centuries the word also attached itself to several animals known for shrill calls, including certain ducks and the alpine marmot, and it survives in well known place names. The core idea, a sharp piping note made with the breath, has stayed remarkably stable since Anglo-Saxon times.

How the word is built

• whistl- (from Old English hwistlian, to whistle)
• -er (agent suffix, one who does)