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PlainSpell

sigh

/saɪ/verb, noun, interjection

sigh is spelled S-I-G-H: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 8.9 times per million words in written English, the 7,672nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, sigh means “To inhale a larger quantity of air than usual, and immediately expel it; to make a deep single audible respiration, especially as the result or…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in sigh?

Letters4: S-I-G-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing8.9 times per million words; the 7,672nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like
Same letters

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 sigh?

Sigh appears 8.9 times per million words in written English, the 7,672nd 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 sigh?

  • /saɪ/

Sigh 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-sigh.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-sie.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with sigh

Sounds like: sai, scye, sie (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with sigh?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as sigh.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: gish.

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 sigh

  • sighs present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • sighing participle, present
  • sighed participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does sigh mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To inhale a larger quantity of air than usual, and immediately expel it; to make a deep single audible respiration, especially as the result or involuntary expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, frustration, or the like.

    When she saw it wasn't damaged, she sighed with relief.

  2. 2

    To lament; to grieve.

  3. 3

    To utter sighs over; to lament or mourn over.

  4. 4

    To make a sound like sighing.

    The wind sighed in the trees.

  5. 5

    To exhale (the breath) in sighs.

    She sighed a sigh that was nearly a groan.

  6. 6

    To express by sighs; to utter in or with sighs.

    "I guess I have no choice," she sighed.

noun

  1. 1

    A deep, prolonged audible inhale and exhale of breath; as when fatigued, frustrated, grieved, or relieved; the act of sighing.

  2. 2

    a manifestation of grief; a lament.

  3. 3

    slangA person who is bored.

interjection

  1. 1

    An expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, frustration, or the like, often used in casual written contexts.

    Sigh, I'm so bored at work today.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Sigh in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchsoupirer (to inhale a larger quantity of air than usual…), lamenter (to lament; to grieve), soupir (act of sighing)
Germanseufzen (to inhale a larger quantity of air than usual…), Seufzen, Seufzer (act of sighing)
Portuguesesuspirar (to inhale a larger quantity of air than usual…), suspiro (act of sighing)
Spanishsuspirar (to inhale a larger quantity of air than usual…), suspiro (act of sighing)

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 sigh come from?

From Middle English sighen (“to sigh”), back-formation from sighte, past tense form of siken, from Old English sīcan, from Proto-West Germanic *sīkan, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seykʷ- (“to pour out”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after sigh