hnnn.

n.  a contemplative hum, as in “The Family Car” by John “Jack” Arnold.


n.  a dog’s yearning moan.

<There is the hint that escapes from him involuntarily, a rapid, defeated exhalation (hnnn!), as when he sees another dog, and he wants so badly to be with that dog.  —Michael Finley, “Communicating with Dogs.”>

n.  a muffled voice in the distance.

<He stared at the horizon blankly.  The sun was down, the light fading, like his chance with ... her.  “Hnnn.”  He spun around.  A voice.  Whose?  Where?  His hair prickled.  If it wasn’t a friendly voice, he would already be dead.  Still... “Hnnn.”  —Win Blevins, Beauty for Ashes.>

n.  an incoherent response, as from someone intoxicated; see also dnnn.

<“Hey Sandra, it’s me, Rudy.  You know me?”  “Hnnn,” said Sandra.  “You all right?  You sick or anything, or just drunk?”  —William Kennedy, An Albany Trio.>

n.  humming; the sound of singing to oneself.

<I could hear her singing to herself in the kitchen.  She had a monotonous, rather grating voice, which rose and fell at intervals.  “Add the raw unsoaked millet—hnn hnnn—and turn off the heat.  Leave covered for—hnnn hnnn—ten minutes without stirring or—hnnnn—until the juices have been absorbed.  —Joanne Harris, Five Quarters of the Orange.>

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