shush
/ʃʊʃ/verb
shush is spelled S-H-U-S-H: 5 letters. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 39,336th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, shush means “To be quiet; to keep quiet” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in shush?
| Letters | 5: S-H-U-S-H |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 39,336th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is shush?
Shush appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 39,336th 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 shush?
- /ʃʊʃ/
- /ʃʌʃ/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-shush.ogg, En-us-shush_(alternative_pronunciation).ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of shush
- shushes present, singular, he/she/it
- shushing participle, present
- shushed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does shush mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To be quiet; to keep quiet.
He wouldn't shush so I kicked him.
- 2
To ask someone to be quiet, especially by saying shh.
The boy in front of us was making too much noise, so we shushed him.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Shush in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense To be quiet:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | chut |
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 shush come from?
Imitative. Compare shh and hush.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).