sough
/saʊ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.59 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A gentle breeze; a waft; a breath.
verb
To drain.
Example Sentences
- "The great train snaked on through the dark, pounding out the miles through the empty plains and mingy hamlets of Georgia, the 'Peach State', the angry moan of its four-toned wind-horn soughing over the wide savannah and the long shaft of its single searchlight ripping the black calico of the night."
- "I lay awake for a while that evening, listening to the soughing of the wind high in the pines, realizing sadly that we must now return to civilization."
- "[...] Arthur; a fearful night it was: there was a sough in the air, a sound drawing nigh like that of a host marching:- — but you're looking pale and forwrought, man; is any thing ailing ye?"
- "The whispering leaves or solemn sough of the forest."
- "Syenite hears the distant sough of waves rolling against rocks, somewhere below the slope on which they lie."
Etymology
From Middle English *sough, swough, swogh, from Middle English swoȝen, swowen, from Old English swōgan (“to make a sound; move with noise; rush; roar”), from Proto-West Germanic *swōgan, from Proto-Germanic *swōganą from Proto-Indo-European *sweh₂gʰ-, same source as English echo (via Ancient Greek). Cognate with Scots souch (“sough”), Icelandic súgur (“a rushing sound, rustle”). Noun replaced Middle English swei, sweȝ from Old English swēg. More at swoon.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *sough, swoȝen, swōgan, *swōgan, *swōganą, *sweh₂gʰ-
Usage
Inflected Forms
Phrases
death-sough
soughing-tile