# sigh

> English word · Verb · IPA /saɪ/ · frequency rank #7,742

## Definitions
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.
2. To lament; to grieve.
3. To utter sighs over; to lament or mourn over.
4. To make a sound like sighing.
5. To exhale (the breath) in sighs.
6. To express by sighs; to utter in or with sighs.

## Etymology
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”).

## Easily confused with
- **six** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sigh-vs-six)
- **sir** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sigh-vs-sir)
- **sit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sigh-vs-sit)
- **sin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sigh-vs-sin)
- **SIM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sigh-vs-sim)
- **sip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sigh-vs-sip)
- **sis** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sigh-vs-sis)
- **SMH** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sigh-vs-smh)
- **ssh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sigh-vs-ssh)
- **sil** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sigh-vs-sil)
- **suh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sigh-vs-suh)
- **Siu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sigh-vs-siu)
- **sth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sigh-vs-sth)
- **sik** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sigh-vs-sik)
- **SVG** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sigh-vs-svg)
- **such** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sigh-vs-such)
- **site** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sigh-vs-site)
- **size** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sigh-vs-size)
- **sign** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sigh-vs-sign)
- **sing** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sigh-vs-sing)

## Common misspellings (6)
`isgh`, `sgih`, `siggh`, `sighh`, `sihg`, `ssigh`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/sigh