screech

Etymology

It is a variant, with an expressive lengthening of the vowel, from English of the older scritch,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} which is recorded as a verb from before 1300 and as a noun from 1548 and is of imitative origin.^[2][8][7] That verb is Middle English scrichen,^[5][6] recorded as schrichen about 1250.^[9][10] Hoad derives it from an imitative base also seen in Old English scriccettan, and compares the dialect words screak (15th century) and scrike (14th century), of Scandinavian origin.^[3] Barnhart thinks the word possibly imitative within English, resembling Old Saxon skrikōn and Old Norse skrækja (“to screech”);^[9] the American Heritage Dictionary takes the Middle English verb as perhaps of Scandinavian origin, akin to the Old Norse verb,^[6] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged also calls it akin.^[5] Etymonline thinks it perhaps a general Germanic word, comparing Old Frisian skrichta and Middle Dutch schrien, and probably imitative in the end;^[10] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Germanic *skrīkijaną.^[1] The OED compares the related imitative forms shriek and shrike.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A loud, shrill cry, often of sudden pain or alarm: 1560, in a translation of Ovid's fable of Narcissus.^[2][5] Etymonline dates the noun to the 1550s and the verb, to cry out with a sharp, shrill voice, to the 1570s;^[10] the OED and Merriam-Webster Unabridged date the verb to 1577.^[2][5][9]

Semantic evolution

The word first described the shrill cries of people and animals, and soon the harsh, high-pitched sounds of things: Etymonline dates the use of wagon wheels and door hinges to the 1560s,^[10] while the OED's first record of the verb for a harsh noise is from 1792 and of the noun from 1821.^[2] In the 20th century cars came to screech to a halt (1920), with the noise of the brakes and tyres.^[2] The screech owl is recorded from the 1590s, after the earlier scritch-owl of the 1520s, and named for its cry, which was thought to be a bad omen;^[10][3] Shakespeare wrote scritch-owl.^[11] In regional use screech itself named birds with harsh calls, such as the barn owl, the swift and the mistle thrush,^[2] and the English Dialect Dictionary records screech-bird for the fieldfare, screech-cock for the mistle thrush and screech-devil for the swift.^[12] As slang, screech has meant cheap, strong liquor since about 1902, probably as a humorous use of the cry,^[2][13] and in Newfoundland a dark rum.^[2][13]

Timeline

• 1560 – noun, a loud, shrill cry of pain or alarm.^[2][5]
• 1577 – verb, to utter a loud, shrill cry.^[2][5][9]
• 1639 – verb, to say something in a shrill voice.^[2]
• 1792 – verb, to make a loud, harsh, piercing noise.^[2]
• 1821 – noun, a loud, harsh, high-pitched noise.^[2]
• 1902 – cheap, strong alcoholic drink (slang).^[2][13]
• 1920 – to screech to a halt, of a vehicle braking hard.^[2]
• 1946 – a dark rum made in Newfoundland.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A high, shrill, piercing cry, usually of pain or terror: the screech of a frightened gull.^[5][7][2]
2. A harsh, high-pitched sound made by something, such as brakes or a siren.^[5][7][2]
3. (slang) Cheap, strong liquor; in Newfoundland, a dark rum.^[2][13]
4. (regional) Any of several birds with a harsh call, such as the barn owl or the swift.^[2]

Verb

1. To utter a high, shrill, piercing cry.^[5][7][2]
2. To say something in a shrill voice: He screeched a warning from the balcony.^[5][2]
3. To make a harsh, high-pitched noise: The van screeched to a halt.^[5][7][2]

Word family

• screecher
• screechiness
• screechy
• screech owl

Related words

• scritch
• screak
• shriek
• shrike
• scream

Usage notes

The OED also records, from 1829, a regional noun screech for break of day or dawn, probably an alteration of screak or skreigh reshaped after the cry; folk etymology connects it with the crowing of the cock at dawn.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
13. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com