yodel

American  

[yohd-l] / ˈyoʊd l /

Sometimes yodle

verb (used with or without object)

yodeled, yodeling, yodelled, yodelling

1. to sing with frequent changes from the ordinary voice to falsetto and back again, in the manner of Swiss and Tyrolean mountaineers.

2. to call or shout in a similar fashion.

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noun

1. a song, refrain, etc., so sung.

2. a call or shout so uttered.

yodel British  

/ ˈjəʊdəl /

noun

1. an effect produced in singing by an abrupt change of register from the chest voice to falsetto, esp in popular folk songs of the Swiss Alps

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verb

1. to sing (a song) in which a yodel is used

Other Word Forms

• yodeler noun
• yodeller noun

Etymology

Origin of yodel

First recorded in 1835–40, from southern German dialect jodeln, from jo, an exclamation

Explanation

To yodel is to sing with a rapid, dramatic change in pitch. When you yodel, your voice veers quickly between a low register and a very high falsetto. When someone yodels, it can sound almost like a strange cry, and you can call this sound itself a yodel as well. The yodel is often connected with the Bavarian alps, where it has a long rural tradition, although people in parts of Central Africa have long used a yodel as a form of communication, and it's been part of US country music since the 1920s. The German root word is jodeln, "to utter the syllable jo."

Example Sentences

As I crooned “I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive” along with Hank Williams, I added a little yodel.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 4, 2025

Burnett and her Tarzan yodel returned to series TV for the first time in decades with the recent arrival of Netflix’s “A Little Help With Carol Burnett.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 26, 2023

Sam: We were like gearing up to send a single to country radio and we did a lot of touring with... do you remember the yodel kid Mason Ramsey?

From BBC • Jan. 16, 2021

She learned her yodel from her dad, a country music fan, and there were church influences, too.

From The Guardian • Sep. 13, 2018

But this time it was more of a yodel than a groan.

From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey