English → Latin
“whistle” in Latin
sībilusa hissing, whistling; a contemptuous hissingsībilōto hiss; to whistlefistulapipe, tube, especially a water pipe; hollow reed or cane; shepherd's pipe, pipes of Pantībiathe large shin bone, tibia; leg; a pipe, flute (originally of bone)canōto sing, recite, play; to sound, play, blow (a trumpet), especially a military call; to foretell, predict, prophesy
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
whistle s.
sibilus; plur., sibili (rare) and sibila, -orum (common: the former seems to denote single hisses, the latter a continued hissing).
whistle v.
Intransitively, sibilare (general term for any whistling or hissing noise produced by a person with his mouth, by a serpent, the wind, etc., ; Vid: Auct. ad Her., 4, 31; Quint., 8, 6, 31): fistula or tibia canere (to blow on a reed, fife, etc.). To whistle (for anyone to come), *aliquem sibilo advocare. We must whistle to oxen, to make them drink freely at the water, boves ad aquam duci oportet, sibiloque allectari quo libentius bibant (Col., 2, 3, 2).
Transitively, To whistle a tune, *canticum sibilando exprimere (with the mouth); *canticum fistula (on a reed) or tibia (on a fife) canere.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for whistle?
- The usual Latin words for “whistle” are sībilus, sībilō, fistula; also tībia, canō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.