The word fruscio (masculine) in Italian is a noun that usually describes the following kinds of subdued sounds:
- robes swishing
- flowing water of a stream or river
- leaves rustling in the wind
- feet walking along the ground
- snakes rustling in the grass
In most cases, it equates in meaning to the words rustle or rustling in English.
The plural form is fruscii with the double “i” at the end. You can hear the singular and plural pronunciations below.
Fruscio is onomatopoeic, which means that it was conceived from the sound with which it is associated.
Mi piace ascoltare il fruscio delle foglie mosse dal vento.
I like listening to the rustle of the leaves blowing in the wind.
Related to this noun is the verb frusciare which, as you probably guessed, means to rustle or to swish.
In the world of audio, fruscio (di fondo) can refer to background noise or a hiss / crackle.
In the past, fruscio was used to describe the magnetic noise of tapes, as well as that made by the needle of a phonograph / turntable when touching the surface of the disc.
Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.
