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Added 9 October 2026

whiz

/wɪz/ noun

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about whiz at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field.
A buzzing or hissing sound as of something traveling rapidly through the air.
he heard the whiz of bullets near his head

verb

Make a soft swishing sound.
the motor whirred

Origin

Onomatopoeic. Compare huzz, hizz, hiss. In some noun senses perhaps derived from wizard. In the sense “remarkably skilled person”, it may also simply a misspelling of its shortened form wiz, or it may be a shortening of whiz kid, which may have a different origin, perhaps whiz(z) in the sense of “something very remarkable”, attested from 1908, or the interjection (as in whizz-bang or gee whiz).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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