# shh

Pronunciation: say "SHH" /ʃ̩ː/

## Interjection

1. Used to tell someone to be quiet or to lower their voice.
   - Simple: Said to tell someone to stop talking and be quiet.
   - _Shh, they're about to announce the winner._
   - _He raised his hand and said, "Shh, listen to that."_
2. Used to soothe or comfort someone who is crying or distressed.
   - Simple: Said softly to calm someone who is upset or crying.
   - _Shh, sweetheart, the bad dream is over now._
   - _She held him close and whispered, "Shh, I've got you."_

## Verb

3. To make a hushing sound at someone in order to call for quiet.
   - Simple: To make a soft hushing sound, often to ask someone to be quiet.
   - _Parents often shh their children during a performance._
   - _The crowd shhed as the conductor raised his baton._

## Noun

4. An instance of making the hushing sound, used to call for silence.
   - Simple: A soft hushing sound made to ask people to be quiet.
   - _A gentle shh from the nurse settled the frightened child._
   - _Her repeated shhs finally silenced the restless audience._
5. Alternative form of SHH. — Alternative form of SHH (“sonic hedgehog”); Abbreviation of sonic hedgehog.
   - Simple: Another way of writing SHH, short for the gene sonic hedgehog. Used in science writing about how bodies grow before birth.
   - _Researchers linked shh mutations to several birth defects._
   - _The shh protein guides cells during early development._

## Origin

From "hush," this word is likely imitative of a nonverbal sound, comparable to Scots "whisht" ("hush!").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/shh (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).