noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A dry rattling sound heard during breathing, due to deposits in the bronchial tubes.

   "“You have poisoned yourself again!” Humfried emitted an alarming rhonchus."

2. 2
   a sound like whistling or snoring that is heard with a stethoscope during expiration as air passes through obstructed channels wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

buzzeffervescencefizzfizzlehisshissing

Example

More examples

"“You have poisoned yourself again!” Humfried emitted an alarming rhonchus."

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin rhonchus (“snoring”), from Ancient Greek ῥόγχος (rhónkhos) (Caelius Aurelianus), of imitative origin.

Related phrases

sibilant rhonchus

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.