Sough
noun / verb /saʊ/ or /sʌf/ — The soft sound of wind moving through trees.
Definition
A moaning, sighing, or rustling sound; the murmuring of the wind through leaves or grass.
Beyond the definition
Sough is one of those words that sounds exactly like what it means. The sough of wind in pines. The sough of tall grass bending. It's a word that requires slowness to say properly, which makes it exactly right for describing something that requires stillness to hear.
Origin & history
Old English swōgan 'to sound, resound'. Related to Norwegian dialect suga 'to sigh'. One of the oldest acoustic words in the English language.
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
She lay in the long grass and listened to the sough of the wind through the poplars.
The sough of the sea reached them before the coastline did.
There was a sough to the evening air — not silence, but something close to it.
Synonyms
murmur, sigh, rustle, whisper, hum
Antonyms
roar, crash, silence
Related words
Word in the Wild
See how this word appears in life, language and stories.
Illustrative sentences and imagined stories for learning — not verified sightings, interviews, or sourced quotations.
Fictional scene
Seasonal tree change
A tree shows bare twigs on one side and budding green leaves on another, under soft sunlight and moonlight.
The sound of wind moving through the leaves and twigs of a tree is the sough. It represents the murmuring, moaning quality of the wind as it interacts with the foliage, creating a sound that suggests the tree's movement.
Image credit: Wordspun · AI-generated conceptual illustration