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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

sough.

To make a soft rustling or murmuring sound.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/saʊ//sʌf/
  1. To make a soft rustling or murmuring sound.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English *sough, swough, swogh, from Middle English swoȝen, swowen, from Old English swōgan (“to make a sound; move with noise; rush; roar”), from Proto-West Germanic *swōgan, from Proto-Germanic *swōganą from Proto-Indo-European *sweh₂gʰ-, same source as English echo (via Ancient Greek). Cognate with Scots souch (“sough”), Icelandic súgur (“a rushing sound, rustle”). Noun replaced Middle English swei, sweȝ from Old English swēg. More at swoon.

noun/saʊ//sʌf/
  1. A murmuring sound; rushing, rustling, or whistling sound.

  2. A gentle breeze; a waft; a breath.

  3. A (deep) sigh.

  4. A vague rumour.

    Scotland · obsolete
  5. A cant or whining mode of speaking, especially in preaching or praying.

    Scotland · obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English *sough, swough, swogh, from Middle English swoȝen, swowen, from Old English swōgan (“to make a sound; move with noise; rush; roar”), from Proto-West Germanic *swōgan, from Proto-Germanic *swōganą from Proto-Indo-European *sweh₂gʰ-, same source as English echo (via Ancient Greek). Cognate with Scots souch (“sough”), Icelandic súgur (“a rushing sound, rustle”). Noun replaced Middle English swei, sweȝ from Old English swēg. More at swoon.

noun/sʌf//saʊ/
  1. A small drain; an adit.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English sough (whence also Scots sheuch (“ditch”)), from Old English *sōh, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *sīk (“watercourse”); compare dialectal Dutch zoeg (“ditch”), and English sitch.

verb/sʌf//saʊ/
  1. To drain.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English sough (whence also Scots sheuch (“ditch”)), from Old English *sōh, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *sīk (“watercourse”); compare dialectal Dutch zoeg (“ditch”), and English sitch.

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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.