whistle

English

/wɪsl̩/

noun
Definitions
  • A device designed to be placed in the mouth and blown, or driven by steam or some other mechanism, to make a whistling sound.
  • An act of whistling.
  • A shrill, high-pitched sound made by whistling.
  • Any high-pitched sound similar to the sound made by whistling.
  • (Cockney rhyming slang) A suit (from whistle and flute).
  • (colloquial) The mouth and throat; so called as being the organs of whistling.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English whistlen inherited from Old English hwistlan inherited from Proto-Germanic *hwistlōną (make a hissing sound, whistle, hiss).

Origin

Proto-Germanic

*hwistlōną

Gloss

make a hissing sound, whistle, hiss

Concept
Semantic Field

Speech and language

Ontological Category

Action/Process

Emoji

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms