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trill

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Etymology and origin of the English word trill

Pronunciation

trill1 to flow, trickle, roll

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1386 Chaucer
Borrowed from
Old Norse via Middle English

Etymology

The verb meaning to flow or roll is inherited from Middle English trillen,[2][3] probably of Scandinavian origin,[2][3][4] though the OED says only "perhaps".[5] The comparisons are Swedish trilla (“to roll, trundle”), Norwegian trilla and Danish trille, also trilde,[5][3] and Dictionary.com names Old Danish trijlæ (“to roll”) as the source.[6] Merriam-Webster Unabridged adds Middle Dutch trillen (“to tremble, vibrate”), Middle Low German trīseln (“to roll, reel”), Middle High German trollen (“to run with short steps”) and Old English treppan (“to tread”).[3] The OED enters turning and flowing under two headwords, and thinks that flowing is perhaps a distinct development of turning;[5] the Shorter Oxford agrees that they may be one verb.[7] It compares the synonymous drill,[5][7] as Partridge does,[8] and tirl.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Both uses appear first in Chaucer, about 1386 in the OED: to twirl something, in the Squire's Tale, and of tears, to flow, in the Summoner's Tale.[5][9] The Middle English Dictionary has "trille" of tears in a text it dates to about 1390, composed about 1350.[2]

Semantic evolution

Turning led to rolling a ball or hoop (1408) and to the intransitive sense of a wheel revolving (1531–1681).[5] Flowing led to falling or hanging down in a stream (before 1400 to 1609), and to causing a liquid to flow (about 1485).[5] Shakespeare's King Lear has a tear that "trill'd down her delicate cheek", which Johnson (1755) quotes for "to trickle; to fall in drops or slender streams".[10] The word is now archaic, though it has survived in Scots and dialect:[7] in Kent one could trill a hoop, and in east Somerset the word meant to twirl.[11]

Timeline

  • c. 1386 – to twirl, spin; of tears, to flow.[5]
  • before 1400 – to fall or hang down in a stream (obsolete by 1609).[5]
  • 1408 – to roll or trundle a ball or hoop.[5]
  • c. 1485 – to cause to flow.[5][7]
  • 1531 – of a wheel or ball, to revolve (obsolete by 1681).[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (archaic) To flow in a thin stream or in drops; to trickle.[3][7]
  2. (archaic) To make something flow in this way.[3][7]
  3. (archaic) To turn, twirl or roll something.[3][7][5]

trill2 warbling or vibrating sound

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1649 Lovelace
Borrowed from
Italian trillo

Etymology

The warbling or vibrating sound is borrowed from Italian trillo (“a quaver or warble in singing”), also triglio,[5][12][13][7] from trillare (“to quaver, warble”),[13][14] also trigliare in Florio (1611).[5] The English verb came separately from the Italian verb.[5][14][12][7] The Italian word is taken as probably imitative by the American Heritage Dictionary and Etymonline, as it was by Weekley,[13][15][16] but as probably from Dutch trillen (“to tremble, vibrate”) by Merriam-Webster Unabridged,[3] and apparently from Middle Dutch trillen by Collins.[4] The OED says it is usually referred to a German source,[5] and Barnhart calls it probably imitative, but notes Medieval Latin trillare in Medieval Latin and a German source that it does not name.[14] Compare French trille, formerly tril.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A tremulous utterance of a note, as a musical ornament: 1649, in Lovelace's Lucasta.[5][14][3] Etymonline has the 1640s and Dictionary.com 1635–45.[15][6]

Semantic evolution

The word entered English as a term of singing, and Johnson (1755) still glossed it as a "quaver; tremulousness of musick".[10] The verb, "to sing with a tremulous effect", follows in 1667 in Pepys's diary.[5][14] Before 1704 the noun was transferred to other high tremulous sounds, especially the singing of birds.[5] A. J. Ellis's Essentials of Phonetics (1848) gave it its phonetic sense, for a consonant such as r made with a vibrating tongue.[5]

Timeline

  • 1649 – noun, a tremulous note as a musical ornament.[5][14][3]
  • 1667 – verb, to sing with a tremulous effect.[5][14]
  • before 1701 – transitive, to sing a note or tune with a tremulous sound.[5]
  • before 1704 – noun, a high tremulous sound, especially of birds.[5]
  • 1846 – to make an instrument or the voice vibrate with a tremulous sound.[5]
  • 1848 – noun and verb, of a consonant pronounced with a vibration of the tongue.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. In music, a rapid alternation between a note and the note a tone or semitone above it; a shake.[4][3][13]
  2. A vibrato, or a rapid repetition of one note, especially on a percussion instrument.[3][13]
  3. A high, fluttering sound, as of certain birds; a warble.[4][13][3]
  4. In phonetics, the rapid vibration of one speech organ against another, or a consonant made in this way, such as a rolled r.[4][13][3]

Verb

  1. To sing, play or utter with a trill: The soprano trilled the last phrase.[3][5]
  2. To make a trilling sound: A blackbird was trilling in the hedge.[3][17]
  3. To pronounce a consonant with a trill.[3][5]

Word family

  • triller
  • trillet
  • trillingly

Usage notes

The OED has several rarer words of this spelling, which are not treated here: a verb "to rock a cradle" (about 1425), of obscure origin, which the Middle English Dictionary takes as probably from Middle Dutch trillen;[5][2] a noun for the shaft of a cart (from 1688), a variant of thill;[5] a noun for a flue in a greenhouse (1707);[5] and the American slang adjective trill, genuine, apparently a blend of true and real,[5][18] recorded in a song by UGK that the OED dates to 1992 and Green's Dictionary of Slang to 1988.[5][18]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  5. ^ 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 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  9. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ 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)
  12. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  13. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  14. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  15. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  16. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  17. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  18. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Trill.” Etymologically, 5 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/trill. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

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