Skreak

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. A harsh, piercing cry or screech, or the act of producing such a sound
2. To utter a harsh, shrill, piercing sound, or a sound of that kind itself
3. A sharp, grating shriek, or the act of letting out such a noise

Etymology: Skreak is a northern English and Scots form of "shriek," and the two share a root that imitates a sharp, piercing cry. The sound does much of the work: the "sk" opening and hard "k" ending mimic a high, grating noise. Similar forms appear across the Scandinavian languages, such as Norwegian "skrike" and Swedish "skrika," both meaning to cry out. As a verb, the word describes making that cry, and as a noun it names the cry itself. The exact path from the Scandinavian forms to the northern English and Scots variant is uncertain, so the safest account is that it belongs to a family of imitative words for shrill noises that developed across the North Sea languages.

Synonyms: screak, screech, shriek