Rustle
/ˈrʌs.əl/noun
To make a light, dry, crackling sound; also, to move or handle something so it makes that sound.
Did you know?Rustle is probably an expressive formation tied to older sound-symbolic words, and in early modern English it could also suggest stealthy, secret movement — like something alive in the shadows.
Etymological Timeline
Early Modern English
English
rustlen
“To make a light crackling or brushing sound; to move quietly with such a sound.”
16th–17th Century
English
rustle
“An imitative or expressive word for a soft, rough, repeated sound.”
Middle English
English
rustlen / rustelen
“To make a faint crackling or brushing noise; to stir or move softly.”
Proto-Germanic (uncertain)
PGmc
*rust- / *rusk-
“A proposed sound-imitative base for crackling, brushing noises, though the exact origin is uncertain.”
Modern English
English
rustle
“To make or cause a soft, crackling sound; the sound itself.”