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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

trill.

A rapid alternation between an indicated note and the one above it as an ornament; in musical notation usually indicated with the letters tr written above the staff.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/tɹɪl/Australia, General-American, Received-Pronunciation[t̠ʰɹ̠̊ɪl]Australia, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/tɾɪl/Scotland, Wales/tɹəl/New-Zealand
  1. A rapid alternation between an indicated note and the one above it as an ornament; in musical notation usually indicated with the letters tr written above the staff.

  2. A type of consonantal sound that is produced by vibrations of the tongue against the place of articulation: for example, Spanish ⟨rr⟩, /r/.

  3. A tremulous high-pitched vocal sound produced by cats.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English trillen, from Italian trillo, trillare. Compare German trillern, Norwegian trille, Swedish trilla.

verb/tɹɪl/Australia, General-American, Received-Pronunciation[t̠ʰɹ̠̊ɪl]Australia, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/tɾɪl/Scotland, Wales/tɹəl/New-Zealand
  1. To create a trill sound; to utter trills or a trill; to play or sing in tremulous vibrations of sound; to have a trembling sound; to quaver.

    intransitive
  2. To impart the quality of a trill to; to utter as, or with, a trill.

    transitive
    to trill a note, or the letter r
Where this word comes from

From Middle English trillen, from Italian trillo, trillare. Compare German trillern, Norwegian trille, Swedish trilla.

verb
  1. To trickle.

    intransitive · obsolete
    Whisper'd sounds / Of waters, trilling from the riven stone.
Where this word comes from

Perhaps identical to Etymology 3, but compare the same sense of drill, and German trillen, drillen.

verb
  1. To twirl.

    intransitive · obsolete
Where this word comes from

Probably related to Old English þweran (“to twirl, stir”). Compare twirl, thirl, and Swedish trilla, Norwegian trille, etc.

adj
  1. True; respected.

    slang
Where this word comes from

Perhaps a blend of true + real, or from keep it real, exhibiting the fill–feel merger.

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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.