HOW TO PRONOUNCE
whistle
/ˈwɪsəl/
Press play to hear how to pronounce whistle.
American Pronunciation Guide · 1:05
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LISTEN FOR THIS
The t is silent.
Stress the first syllable. The t is silent; both w and hw openings occur.
TRY SAYING
“Blow the whistle.”
APG practice sentence · CC BY-SA 4.0
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗What does whistle mean?
noun
- A device designed to be placed in the mouth and blown, or driven by steam or some other mechanism, to make a whistling sound.
- An act of whistling.
- A shrill, high-pitched sound made by whistling.
More meanings (8)
noun
- Any high-pitched sound similar to the sound made by whistling.
- (slang) A suit (from whistle and flute).
- The mouth and throat; so called as being the organs of whistling.
verb
- To make a shrill, high-pitched sound by forcing air through the mouth. To produce a whistling sound, restrictions to the flow of air are created using the teeth, tongue and lips.
- To make a similar sound by forcing air through a musical instrument or a pipe etc.
- To move in such a way as to create a whistling sound.
- To send, signal, or call by a whistle.
- (slang) To request admission to Opus Dei, a Roman Catholic organization.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ˈwɪsəl/
Pronunciation used in the listening tip.
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
Her screams were so exactly like the whistle of a steam-engine, that Alice had to hold both her hands over her ears.
Birds and insects without number began to chirp, to twitter, to snap and whistle, to make all manner of fresh shrill noises.
More book examples (3)
The ringing impact of trucks, the sharp whistle of the engines from the junction, mingled with their shouts of “Men from Mars!”
At four the party found themselves again at the station, took their places in the train, and the whistle sounded for starting.
Tess could whistle like most other country-girls, though the accomplishment was one which she did not care to profess in genteel company.