siren
/ˈsaɪɹən/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.46 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
noun
A member of a genus of aquatic salamanders of the family Sirenidae, commonly used for all species in the family Sirenidae.
noun
Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Hestina.
noun
A device, either mechanical or electronic, that makes a piercingly loud sound as an alarm or signal, or the sound from such a device.
noun
A musical instrument, one of the few aerophones in the percussion section of the symphony orchestra (patented as Acme Siren in 1895).
Example Sentences
- "Now give ear to what I'm about to say to you, / and a god himself will bring it before your mind. / First, you will come to the Sirens. / These beings enthrall all men who arrive before them. […]"
- "My attention was diverted from this sight by a furious yelling, like that of the thing called a siren in our manufacturing towns."
- "1984, Steve Harris, "Aces High", Iron Maiden, Powerslave. There goes the siren that warns of the air raid / Then comes the sound of the guns sending flak / Out for the scramble we've got to get airborne / Got to get up for the coming attack."
Etymology
From Middle English siren, from Old French sereine and Latin Sīrēn, Sīrēna, from Ancient Greek Σειρήν (Seirḗn). The mammalian sense was first attested in French in Dominique Bouhours, Les entretiens d'Ariste et d'Eugène, in 1671. The aquatic salamander sense was originally introduced by Linnaeus in 1766, for a genus of his reptiles.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsaɪɹən/
- British English: /ˈsaɪəɹən/