shrill

C2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈʃrɪl/ UK /ʃɹɪl/ See IPA manual

Freq #24936

Meanings

1

adj
of colors that are bright and gaudy

A shrill turquoise.
2

adj
having or emitting a high-pitched and sharp tone or tones

A shrill whistle.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

2 adj · having or emitting a... sharp

More earsplitting strident

Word family

Forms shrilledshrillershrillestshrillingshrillnessshrillsshrilly

Derived forms shrillaryshrillishshrillnessshrillyunshrill

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

shrill whistle
a piercing, high-pitched whistling sound

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Late Middle English schrille, shirle, shrille (“of a sound: high-pitched, piercing; producing such a sound”), possibly from the earlier shil, schille (“loud, resounding; high-pitched”), from Old English scill (“sonorous sounding”), of Germanic origin and probably ultimately imitative. The r in the word was introduced by analogy to Middle English skrīke, skrīken, scrēmen, possibly to avoid confusion with non-Anglian forms of schelle (modern English shell) where Old English scill (“sonorous sounding”) and scill (“shell”) existed. The word is cognate with Icelandic skella (“crash, bang, slam...

schrille Middle English scill Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# shrill

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈʃrɪl/
**IPA (UK):** /ʃɹɪl/
**Frequency rank:** 24936

## Meanings
1. of colors that are bright and gaudy
2. having or emitting a high-pitched and sharp tone or tones

## Examples
- A shrill turquoise.
- A shrill whistle.

## Synonyms
- sharp
- earsplitting
- strident

## Derived Forms
- shrillary
- shrillish
- shrillness
- shrilly
- unshrill

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: schrille
- Root: scill

## Etymology
From Late Middle English schrille, shirle, shrille (“of a sound: high-pitched, piercing; producing such a sound”), possibly from the earlier shil, schille (“loud, resounding; high-pitched”), from Old English scill (“sonorous sounding”), of Germanic origin and probably ultimately imitative. The r in the word was introduced by analogy to Middle English skrīke, skrīken, scrēmen, possibly to avoid confusion with non-Anglian forms of schelle (modern English shell) where Old English scill (“sonorous sounding”) and scill (“shell”) existed. The word is cognate with Icelandic skella (“crash, bang, slam...

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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