shrill
/ʃɹɪl/adjective, verb, noun
shrill is spelled S-H-R-I-L-L: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,636th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, shrill means “High-pitched and piercing” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in shrill?
| Letters | 6: S-H-R-I-L-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 33,636th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is shrill?
Shrill appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,636th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce shrill?
- US /ʃɹɪl/
Shrill has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-shrill.ogg, En-au-shrill.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with shrill?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as shrill from its last stressed vowel (/ɪl/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of shrill
- shriller comparative
- shrillest superlative
- shrills present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- shrilling participle, present
- shrilled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does shrill mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
High-pitched and piercing.
The woods rang with shrill cries of the birds.
- 2
Having a shrill voice.
- 3
Sharp or keen to the senses.
- 4
derogatoryEspecially of a woman: fierce, loud, strident.
verb
- 1
To make a shrill noise.
noun
- 1
A shrill sound.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Shrill in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | strident , criard |
| German | schrill , scharf |
| Portuguese | estridente, estrídulo , agudo |
| Spanish | estridente, agudo, penetrante |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does shrill come from?
From Late Middle English schrille, shirle, shrille (“of a sound: high-pitched, piercing; producing such a sound”), possibly from the earlier shil, schille (“loud, resounding; high-pitched”), from Old English sċill (“sonorous sounding”), of Germanic origin and probably ultimately imitative. The r in the word was introduced by analogy to Middle English skrīke, skrīken, scrēmen, possibly to avoid confusion with non-Anglian forms of schelle (modern English shell) where Old English sċill (“sonorous sounding”) and sċill (“shell”) existed.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).