A Whisper Uses No Voice at All
To whisper is to speak very quietly. It is not simply quiet speech, it is speech produced without the vocal folds vibrating.
To whisper is to speak very softly. Phonetically it is a different mode of speech, not merely a lower volume: in whispering the vocal folds do not vibrate, so there is no pitch. That is why you cannot whisper a tune, and why a whisper carries oddly well across a quiet room.
- To speak very softly. *She whispered a warning.*
- A soft utterance. *A whisper in the dark.*
- A rumour. *Whispers of a merger.*
- A faint sound. *The whisper of leaves.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | whisper | Whisper it. |
| Past | whispered | He whispered back. |
| Noun | whisper | A stage whisper. |
| Adjective | whispered | A whispered reply. |
| Related | murmur | A low murmur. |
How it is used in a sentence
- A stage whisper is meant to be heard.Theatre term.
- There are whispers of a takeover.Rumour.
- Whispering galleries carry sound around a curve.Acoustics, as in St Paul's Cathedral.
Quiet sounds
- Whisper — voiceless speech
- Murmur — a low continuous sound
- Mutter — quiet and usually discontented
- Mumble — indistinct, not necessarily quiet
- Hiss — sharp and sibilant
From Old English *hwisprian*, of imitative origin — the word sounds like the thing, as do *hiss*, *rustle* and *murmur*.
Can you whisper a melody?
No. Whispering has no vocal fold vibration and therefore no pitch, so a tune cannot survive it.
What is a whispering gallery?
A curved space where sound clings to the wall and travels far, letting a whisper be heard across the room.