Shush

//ʃʊʃ// name, verb

name, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To be quiet; to keep quiet. intransitive, onomatopoeic

    "He wouldn't shush so I kicked him."

  2. 2
    silence (someone) by uttering ‘shush!’ wordnet
  3. 3
    To ask someone to be quiet, especially by saying shh. intransitive, onomatopoeic, transitive

    "The boy in front of us was making too much noise, so we shushed him."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A city in Khuzestan Province, Iran, site of ancient Susa.

Example

More examples

"The judge raised his hand to shush Tom."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Imitative. Compare shh and hush.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Persian شوش (šuš), from Middle Persian 𐭮𐭥𐭱𐭩 (sūš), from Old Persian 𐏂𐎢𐏁𐎠 (çūšā), from Elamite 𒀸𒋗𒊺𒂗 (šušen). Doublet of Susa and Sus.

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