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Hiss vs Sibilant - What's the difference?

hiss | sibilant |

As nouns the difference between hiss and sibilant

is that hiss is a high-pitched sound made by a snake, cat, escaping steam, etc while sibilant is (phonetics) a hissing sound such as the 's' or 'sh' in 'sash' or 'surge'.

As a verb hiss

is to make a hissing sound.

As an adjective sibilant is

characterized by a hissing sound such as the "s" or "sh" in sash'' or ''surge .

hiss

English

Noun

(es)
  • A high-pitched sound made by a snake, cat, escaping steam, etc.
  • An expression of disapproval made to sound like the noise of a snake.

    • Verb

  • To make a hissing sound.
    • As I started to poke it, the snake hissed at me.
    The arrow hissed through the air.
  • * Wordsworth
    • Shod with steel, / We hissed along the polished ice.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=December 14 , author=John Elkington , title=John Elkington , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage=It turns out that the driver of the red Ferrari that caused the crash wasn't, as I first guessed, a youngster, but a 60-year-old. Clearly, he had energy to spare, which was more than could be said about a panel I listened to around the same time as the crash. Indeed, someone hissed in my ear during a First Magazine awards ceremony in London's imposing Marlborough House on 7 December: "What we need is more old white men on the stage."}}
  • To condemn or express contempt for by hissing.
  • * Bible, Ezekiel xxvii. 36
    • The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee.
  • * Shakespeare
    • if the tag-rag people did not clap him and hiss him, according as he pleased and displeased them
  • To utter with a hissing sound.
  • * Tennyson
    • the long-necked geese of the world that are ever hissing dispraise

    sibilant

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Characterized by a hissing sound such as the "s" or "sh" in sash'' or ''surge .
  • * 1960 : Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird
    • She had a curious habit of prefacing everything she said with a soft sibilant sound.
    "S-s-s Grace," she said, "it's just like I was telling Brother Hutson the other day. 'S-s-s Brother Hutson,' I said, 'looks like we're fighting a losing battle, a losing battle.' I said."

    Derived terms

    * sibilantly

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (phonetics) A hissing sound such as the 's' or 'sh' in 'sash' or 'surge'.
  • * 1955 : H. A. Gleason, An Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics , page 194, section 14.7
    • Groove fricatives all have more or less of an [s]-like quality, and are for this reason sometimes called sibilants .

    Derived terms

    * shibilant

    Synonyms

    * (phonetics) groove fricative

    Related terms

    * sibilance * sibilancy * sibilate * sibilation ----