Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

whooping cough

/ˈhuːpɪŋ ˌkɔf/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.09 in modern English

Syllables
whoop-ing -cough
IPA
/ˈhuːpɪŋ ˌkɔf/
28
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A contagious disease of the respiratory system that usually affects children caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis, the advanced stage of which is characterised by spasms of coughing followed by a whooping sound during the intake of breath.

Countable; Uncountable

Etymology

From whooping + cough, from the characteristic-sounding cough that is a major symptom.

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /ˈhuːpɪŋ ˌkɔf/
  • British English: /ˈhuːpɪŋ ˌkɒf/

Usage

Inflected Forms

whooping coughs (plural) whooping-cough (alternative) hooping-cough (alternative)

Synonyms

pertussis chink cough chin cough

Questions

How do you pronounce whooping cough?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈhuːpɪŋ ˌkɔf/.
What does whooping cough mean?
A contagious disease of the respiratory system that usually affects children caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis, the advanced stage of which is characterised by spasms of coughing followed by a whooping sound during the intake of breath.
Where does whooping cough come from?
From whooping + cough, from the characteristic-sounding cough that is a major symptom.

How to pronounce whooping cough

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “whooping cough”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈhuːpɪŋ ˌkɔf/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “whooping cough”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “whooping cough” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.