sigh
/saɪ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.95 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
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.
Intransitive verb
noun
A deep, prolonged audible inhale and exhale of breath; as when fatigued, frustrated, grieved, or relieved; the act of sighing.
noun
a manifestation of grief; a lament.
Example Sentences
- "When she saw it wasn't damaged, she sighed with relief."
- "He sighed. It was going to be a long night."
- "He sighed over the lost opportunity."
- "A waiter brought his aperitif, which was a small scotch and soda, and as he sipped it gratefully he sighed. ‘Civilized,’ he said to Mr. Campion. ‘Humanizing.’ […] ‘Cigars and summer days and women in big hats with swansdown face-powder, that's what it reminds me of.’"
- "He sighed deeply in his spirit."
- "Ages to come, and men unborn, / Shall bless her name, and sigh her fate."
Etymology
From Middle English sighen (“to sigh”), back-formation from sighte, past tense form of siken, from Old English sīcan, from Proto-West Germanic *sīkan, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seykʷ- (“to pour out”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: sighen, sīcan, *sīkan, *seykʷ-, sighe
Usage
Inflected Forms
sighs (present, singular)
sighing (participle, present)
sighed (participle, past)
sighed (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
sighed (first person, past)
sighest (archaic, present)
sighed (past, second person)
sighedst (archaic, past)
sigheth (archaic, present)
sighed (past, singular)