Why this word is great
SIBILANCE — [Noun] A hissing quality of sound, especially in speech or writing, produced by the insistent repetition of sibilant consonants like *s*, *sh*, or *z*. From the English adjective *sibilant* (meaning 'hissing'), which derives from the Latin *sibilant-, sibilans*, present participle of *sibilare* ('to hiss, whistle'), + the noun-forming suffix *-ance*. Unlike *alliteration*, which broadly repeats any leading consonant, or *assonance*, which concerns the echo of vowel sounds, sibilance is a specific, textural sonic friction. It is the sinister whisper of a secret in a silent corridor, the soft seething of surf on a shingled shore, or the persistent rustle of a serpent moving through dry grass—the auditory signature of air being shaped by a sharp, insistent insistence.