Hrrumph

Part of speech: interjection, verb

Definitions

1. Making a loud, throat-clearing noise to show disapproval, skepticism, or self-important displeasure, or the sound itself
2. A gruff clearing of the throat used to signal disdain or offended dignity, and the act of producing such a noise
3. To clear the throat noisily in a pompous, disapproving way, or the grunting sound that such throat-clearing produces

Etymology: "Hrrumph" is an imitative word: it reproduces the throat-clearing noise a person makes to signal disapproval, impatience, or a need to be heard. Its spelling tries to capture the rumbling, gruff sound, with the "hr" standing in for the throaty start and the doubled "rr" for the vibration in the chest. Dictionaries record it as both an interjection and a verb, so one can "hrrumph" a reply as well as hear someone make the sound. Because the word is imitative, it has no single ancestral language to trace. It belongs to a family of sound-words for clearing the throat, such as "harrumph" and "humph," which likewise copy the noise rather than descending from an older root. Its spelling varies, and the variants show how writers have tried to render the same grunt in print.