singultus means A fit of gasping or convulsive breathing. It carries an Arena rating of 1735, earned across 27 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, singultus ranks #1,558 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #1,615 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #1,670 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #2,650 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words.
Why “singultus” is a great word
The involuntary spasmodic contraction of the diaphragm followed by rapid closure of the glottis, producing the characteristic sound of hiccups. A learned borrowing from Latin *singultus* (“a sob, a gasp, a hiccup”), of unknown origin, first attested in English in the early 15th century. Unlike the blunt onomatopoeia of “hiccup” or the grief-specific connotation of “sob,” *singultus* is the precise clinical term, a diagnosis that sounds like the condition it names. It is the body’s tiny, stubborn rebellion: the truncated conversation, the interrupted sip, the sudden, rhythmic punctuation of a silent room—an ancient, clinical reminder that the machinery of breath is not always under our command.
Etymology
From early 15th century. Learned borrowing from Latin singultus, of unknown origin.
noun
- A fit of gasping or convulsive breathing.
- A sob; a speech broken by sobs.
- The hiccups; diaphragmatic myoclonus.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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