psst

English

Alternative forms

• pssst, pst

Etymology

Imitative. First attested in the 1920s. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /psːː(t)/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Interjection

psst (with more 's' as needed)

2. (onomatopoeia) Implies that the speaker is sending secret or whispered information to another person.

   Psst, John, don’t tell anyone, but I’ve got lots of candy stashed away.

Synonyms

• hist; see also Thesaurus:hey

Translations

implying secrecy

Chinese: Mandarin: 噓 / 嘘 (zh) (xū), 嘶 (zh) (sī) Finnish: pst Greek: ψιτ (el) (psit), πσστ (psst) Portuguese: psit Russian: тсс (ru) (tss) Slovak: psst Vietnamese: suỵt (vi), xuỵt

Verb

psst (third-person singular simple present pssts, present participle pssting, simple past and past participle pssted)

1. (informal) To say psst, to get someone's attention or to communicate with them.
   • 2015, Dale Peck, The Garden of Lost and Found‎:

     and I was just rounding the fourth-floor landing when Claudia pssted at me

Anagrams

• SPST, STPs, TPS's, tsps

Finnish

Alternative forms

• pst

Etymology

Onomatopoeic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈps(ː)t/, [ˈps̠(ː)t̪]
• Syllabification^(key): psst
• Hyphenation^(key): psst

Interjection

psst

2. (onomatopoeia) psst! (implying secrecy)

Slovak

Etymology

Imitative.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [pst]
• Hyphenation: psst

Interjection

psst

2. (onomatopoeia) psst! (implying secrecy)

Further reading

• “psst”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025