râle

death rattle

noun RAHL Rare

Also means

rail (bird)

Usage Note

Râle has two distinct uses: medically, it is the rasping sound made in the throat of a dying person (death rattle), also used clinically for abnormal breathing sounds; ornithologically, a râle is any bird of the family Rallidae (such as the corncrake, râle des genêts). In literature and poetry, râle often evokes suffering or finality.

Examples

"On entendait le râle du blessé dans le silence."

Natural Translation

The wounded man's death rattle could be heard in the silence.

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