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Synonyms

chirp

American  
[churp] / tʃɜrp /

verb (used without object)

  1. to make a characteristic short, sharp sound, as small birds and certain insects.

  2. to make any similar sound.

    The children chirped with amusement.

verb (used with object)

  1. to sound or utter in a chirping manner.

    The little girl chirped her joy.

noun

  1. a chirping sound.

chirp 1 British  
/ tʃɜːp /

verb

  1. (esp of some birds and insects) to make a short high-pitched sound

  2. to speak in a lively fashion

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. a chirping sound, esp that made by a bird

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
CHIRP 2 British  
/ tʃɜːp /

acronym

  1. Confidential Human Incidents Reporting Programme: a system, run by the RAF Institute of Medicine, by which commercial pilots can comment on safety trends without the knowledge of their employers

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • chirper noun
  • chirpingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of chirp

1400–50; late Middle English chyrpynge (gerund); expressive word akin to cheep, chirk, etc.

Explanation

A chirp is the short, high sound a bird makes. The chirps of the robins at your bird feeder through the open window might drive your cat crazy. Birds chirp — you could also say they tweet, twitter, cheep, and warble — and some insects chirp too. An extremely cheerful person also chirps: "The overly enthusiastic tour guide chirps happily as the bus moves through the city." Chirp may have developed as an imitation of the sound itself, or it may stem from the Middle English chirken, "twitter," which is rooted in the Old English cearcian, "to creak."

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

For the first time, astronomers had observed a supernova producing a quasi periodic signal that increased in frequency, forming a "chirp."

From Science Daily • Mar. 11, 2026

With that said, take a deep breath, and imagine being surrounded by the fresh scent of pine as mountain chickadees chirp all around you.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 29, 2025

I could hardly take another disappointment delivered with a cheerful chirp to my inbox.

From Slate • Jan. 2, 2025

As a result, the final song features the melodic chirp of a male blackbird, originally recorded in the garden of sound engineer Stuart Eltham three years earlier.

From BBC • Apr. 18, 2024

The pixies don’t dance and chirp the way they used to.

From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.