Word of the Week – Susurrous

Most of us probably aren’t all that familiar with the words susurrous and susurration, to be intrigued by the history of said words…but they are words perfectly suited to autumn, so I thought it would be fun to highlight them and give you an extra word in your vocabulary.

What do these words mean? They’re both used (as the noun and adjective forms) to describe whispering sounds, from the Latin susurrus, which means “hum or whisper.” The noun has been in use in English since the 1400s, but the adjective didn’t make its way into use until the mid-1800s, interestingly enough.

So if you find yourself needing a word to describe the whispering rustle of leaves on the ground or blowing in the breeze, now you know what to use!