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''susurrus'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260823000902-00-⌔

susurrus - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

susurrus (plural susurruses)

  • (literary) A whispering or rustling sound; a murmur.
    • ✤ [Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi was] pelted with buckets of water by firemen, and, finally, currycombed and rubbed down by two grooms, keeping a sharp susurrus between them, so as to soothe his wounded feelings; […]1
    • ✤ The soft susurrus and sighs of the branches.2
    • ✤ They heard the Green Fork before they saw it, an endless susurrus, like the growl of some great beast.3
    • ✤ I sipped at a drink and smoked cigarettes in a silence so profound that I could hear the susurrus of the blindfold’s soft fabric rustle and slip between my fingers.4
    • ✤ I walked steadily toward the pennant pole amid a sea of susurrus murmurings.5
    • ✤ Bod could feel the Sleer listening to Jack’s words, could feel a low susurrus of excitement building in the chamber.6

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin susurrus (“a humming, whispering”); reduplication of imitative Proto-Indo-European ﹡swer- (“to buzz, hum”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA: /ˈsuː.sə.ɹəs/
    • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
  • (US) IPA: /ˈsu.sə.ɹəs/, /səˈsəɹ.əs/

Printed 2026-08-23.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1847 February, Thomas De Quincey, “Notes on Walter Savage Landor”, in Leaders in Literature with a Notice of Traditional Errors Affecting Them (De Quincey’s Works; IX), London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, pages 312–313: ↩

  2. 1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, →OCLC,: ↩

  3. 2000 August 8, George R[aymond] R[ichard] Martin, “Catelyn[Stark]”, in A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire; 3), London: Voyager, →ISBN, page 555: ↩

  4. 2004, Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram: A Novel, →ISBN, page 613: ↩

  5. 2007, Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind, →ISBN, page 301: ↩

  6. 2008, Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book, →ISBN, page 262: ↩