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PlainSpell

squelch

/ˈskwɛlt͡ʃ/verb, noun

squelch is spelled S-Q-U-E-L-C-H: 7 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 62,894th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, squelch means “To halt, stop, eliminate, stamp out, or put down, often suddenly or by force” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in squelch?

Letters7: S-Q-U-E-L-C-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 4 million words; the 62,894th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

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).

How common is squelch?

Squelch appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 62,894th 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 squelch?

  • US /ˈskwɛlt͡ʃ/

Squelch 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-squelch.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of squelch

  • squelches present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • squelching participle, present
  • squelched participle, past

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

What does squelch mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    USTo halt, stop, eliminate, stamp out, or put down, often suddenly or by force.

    Even the king's announcement could not squelch the rumors.

  2. 2

    To suppress the unwanted hiss or static between received transmissions by adjusting a threshold level for signal strength.

  3. 3

    UKTo make a sucking, splashing noise as when walking on muddy ground.

    The mud squelched underfoot; it had been raining all night.

  4. 4

    UKTo walk or step through a substance such as mud.

    The mud was thick and sticky underfoot, but we squelched through it nonetheless.

noun

  1. 1

    A squelching sound.

  2. 2

    Ellipsis of squelch circuit.

  3. 3

    datedA heavy blow or fall.

  4. 4

    A kind of electronic beat or sound mainly used in acid house and related music genres.

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

Squelch in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchclouer le bec, museler, réduire au silence (to halt, stop, eliminate), faire floc floc, faire flip-flap (to make a sucking, splashing noise)
Germanunterdrücken (to halt, stop, eliminate), matschen (to make a sucking, splashing noise), Rauschsperre, Rauschunterdrückung (suppression of unwanted hiss)
Spanishaplastar (to halt, stop, eliminate), chapotear (to make a sucking, splashing noise), sintonizar (radio technology: suppress hiss or static)

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 squelch come from?

Unknown. Perhaps a blend of squash + quell + quench. Compare also English squolsh, English squoosh.

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

What to look up after squelch