fssst.

n.  a “whispered hiss from the shadows,” as in Last Go Round  by Ken Kesey.


n.  a warning from a “hissing, spitting, ferocious kitten,” as described in This Heart of Mine  by Beatrice Small and Homeless: Sunita  by Laurie Halse Anderson.


n.  an abrupt ending; the sound of life fizzling out.

<The minute the axe comes down on Joe Mallin, the Warden’s life will go fssst!  —John Gardner, “The Warden,” The Literary Ghost: Great Contemporary Ghost Stories.>

n.  the crackle of a wall torch flaring into flame, as in Dawn For a Distant Earth  by L. E. Modesitt Jr.


n.  the sound of a laser gun, as in Martyrs’ Crossing  by Amy Wilentz.


n.  the swishing of a sharp blade.

<“To be a leader you must have a rosary in your right hand,” and here he imitated a benignly mumbling lama at prayer.  “And in your left hand you must have a sharp knife.  Fssst!  If someone is no good, you must be able to chop him off!”  Here he demonstrated a violent beheading.  —Caroline Humphrey, Shamans and Elders: Experience, Knowledge, and Power Among the Daur Mongols.>

fssst fssst.

n.  the squeak of wet galoshes; see also pfft pfft.

<Her rubber slippers also make a funny hissing noise, fssst, fssst.  She’s just washed her feet and the rubber slippers’ pores have become saturated with water.  —Betool Khedairi, A Sky So Close: A Novel.>

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