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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

howl.

The protracted, mournful cry of a dog, wolf or other canid; also of other animals.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈhaʊ̯l/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈhaʊ̯l̩/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈhæʊ̯l//ˈhaːl/

  1. The protracted, mournful cry of a dog, wolf or other canid; also of other animals.

  2. Any similar sound.

    The howl of the wind

  3. A prolonged cry of distress or anguish; a wail.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English howlen, houlen, from Old English *hūlian, from Proto-West Germanic *hūilōn, from Proto-Germanic *hūwilōną, *hiuwilōną (“to howl”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *kū-, *kew- (“to howl, scream”). Likely of imitative origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian huulje (“to howl”), Dutch huilen (“to cry”), Romanian a hăuli (“to howl”), Old French ouler, German Low German hulen (“to howl”), German heulen (“to howl”), Danish hyle (“to howl”), Swedish yla (“to scream, yell”), Northern Luri آلٛیر (āłir, “howl”).

verb/ˈhaʊ̯l/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈhaʊ̯l̩/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈhæʊ̯l//ˈhaːl/

  1. To utter a loud, protracted, mournful sound or cry, as dogs and wolves often do.

  2. To utter a sound expressive of pain or distress; to cry aloud and mournfully; to lament; to wail.

  3. To make a noise resembling the cry of a wild beast.

    They howled with laughter at the prank.

  4. To utter with outcry.

    to howl derision
Where this word comes from

From Middle English howlen, houlen, from Old English *hūlian, from Proto-West Germanic *hūilōn, from Proto-Germanic *hūwilōną, *hiuwilōną (“to howl”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *kū-, *kew- (“to howl, scream”). Likely of imitative origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian huulje (“to howl”), Dutch huilen (“to cry”), Romanian a hăuli (“to howl”), Old French ouler, German Low German hulen (“to howl”), German heulen (“to howl”), Danish hyle (“to howl”), Swedish yla (“to scream, yell”), Northern Luri آلٛیر (āłir, “howl”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.