When a horse whinnies, it makes its high, wavering call — the long neighing sound horses make to each other, or to a person they know. The word covers both the verb ('the horse whinnied when she came into the barn') and the noun for the sound itself ('a soft whinny from the far stall'). English has several words for this, and they are not quite the same. A neigh is the loud, full, ringing horse call — the big sound. A whinny is usually gentler and lower, the friendly greeting sound a horse makes when it recognises you. A nicker is quieter still, almost under the breath. So if a writer chooses whinny, they are usually telling you the horse is calm or pleased, not alarmed. Many speakers use whinny and neigh as though they were the same, and you will not be misunderstood, but knowing the difference will help you read stories properly. Spelling note: it behaves like other -y verbs, so whinny → whinnies → whinnied → whinnying (the y changes to i, except before -ing). You can use it about people, and when you do it is unkind: a person who whinnies laughs in a loud, silly, horse-like way. This is rare, and always a joke or an insult, so use it carefully.

（馬）嘶鳴、發出長長的叫聲；也當名詞指那個聲音。中文一般說「馬嘶」「嘶鳴」。細分的話 neigh 是宏亮的大聲嘶叫，whinny 偏溫和、像打招呼，nicker 更低更輕。用在人身上指「像馬一樣傻笑」，帶嘲諷，少用。