Whistling

How to spell whistling

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce whistling

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does whistling mean?

1. verbProducing a clear, high-pitched sound by forcing breath through the lips or through a device such as a kettle or pipe.

Whistling in a sentence

• The kettle was whistling loudly long before the water finished boiling.

• He kept whistling the same tune while he painted the fence.

Where does whistling come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends from the Old English verb hwistlian, meaning 'to make a clear, high sound by forcing breath through pursed lips or a pipe'. The root is imitative, that is, the sound of the word was deliberately built to echo the noise it describes, much like 'hiss' or 'buzz'. It belongs to a wider Germanic family of similar sound-words, and related forms turn up across the northern languages, including the Old Norse hvisla, 'to whisper'. The spelling preserves an awkward cluster, the silent 'h' after 'w' and a 't' that is barely pronounced, both of which are relics of how the word was once sounded out more fully. The present participle 'whistling' simply adds the ordinary '-ing' ending, but it is that quiet, easily dropped 't' between the 's' and the 'l' that catches writers out.

How the word is built

• whistl- (from Old English hwistlian, to whistle)
• -ing (present participle / verbal noun suffix)