Wednesday Words (5)

Each Wednesday I present to you a loveable word and what it means. These are words that look or sound pleasing. This week I present to you…

Susurration.

This gorgeous word was suggested to me by James Birkett. It is used to describe a soft, rustling sound – a whisper or murmur, such as that made by a flowing river. Isn’t it lovely? An alternative word is

susurrus, which is also wonderful and means the same thing (so you can talk about the susurration of the river or the susurrus of the river). It is a 17th-century word that comes from the Latin susurrare (to hum or murmur). It pretty much sounds like exactly what it means, which means it is onomatopoetic. But onomatopoeia is a subject for another day…