whinny

[hwin-ee, win-ee]

verb (used without object)

whinnied, whinnying 

1. to utter the characteristic cry of a horse; neigh.

verb (used with object)

whinnied, whinnying 

1. to express by whinnying.

noun

plural

whinnies 

1. a whinnying sound.

whinny

/ ˈwɪnɪ /

verb

1. (of a horse) to neigh softly or gently

2. to make a sound resembling a neigh, such as a laugh

noun

1. a gentle or low-pitched neigh

Word History and Origins

Origin of whinny¹

1520–30; imitative; compare earlier whrinny, Latin hinnīre

Word History and Origins

Origin of whinny¹

C16: of imitative origin

Example Sentences

The horse gave a pained whinny as Edward Ashton pulled it hard around.

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Seeing him paw the ground and whinny only served to emphasize how leggy and coltish he had become.

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Rainbow could whinny quite prettily on command, and always came trotting up when Edith-Anne whistled “God Save the Queen,” but it was hardly the same thing.

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Welcoming visitors to the thatched-roof cottage she and her late husband bought soon after the war, she whimsically tweaks the ears of a mechanical horse named Dobin, making him whinny.

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Nuckels also produced a radio ad with narrator with a western drawl saying “Dirty Dan” was riding off into the sunset as horses whinny in the background.

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