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

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

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

Spector’s signature, soaring woah-oah-oahs were inspired early on by attempts to yodel like Hank Williams with her grandmother.

From The Guardian • Dec. 12, 2019

“In ‘Passacaglia,’ which was written first, the way the voices stretch past bel canto to belting sounds and the yodel break—those two techniques were the ground floor.

From The New Yorker • Feb. 4, 2019

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