the.com/neigh
a horse's loud opinion, delivered before anyone asked for it
means the loud, drawn-out cry a horse makes, somewhere between a whinny and a snort.
from From Old English hnǣgan, 'to neigh' — an imitative word, meaning it was coined to mimic the actual sound a horse makes. Its kin scatter across the old Germanic tongues, where similar sound-words for horse-cries appear, all of them born from human ears trying to spell out that ragged equine bray.
- distance call
- carries over a kilometer to distant herd members
- identity tag
- each horse's neigh is uniquely recognizable
- reunion sound
- saved mostly for greeting friends and seeking contact
- two-part signal
- pitch reveals emotion, length reveals how stressed