One way to hold this word: a thin, high sound that gets pushed out and held for a moment. A lifted off the ground makes it. So does a child who has just won a prize, and so does a tyre dragging on wet road. The sound is not chosen and not planned — something happens, and the noise comes straight out.
From the word’s history
Wiktionary traces the word to Middle English squelen, probably from Old Norse skvala 'to squeal, bawl', and further back to a root meaning 'to ring, resound, cry'. It also points to Swedish skvallra, 'to babble, chatter, tell on' — so the step from making a noise to giving someone away is already visible in the word's relatives.
來源字典把這個字接到中古英文 squelen，可能來自古北歐語 skvala（尖叫、大聲喊），更早的字根意思是「響、鳴、喊」。同一則資料還指出瑞典語的親戚字 skvallra，意思是「閒聊、把人講出去」。所以從「發出聲音」到「把人供出去」這一步，在這個字的家族裡本來就看得到。
Wiktionary 'squeal' etymology in the supplied packet (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4), including the cognate note 'Swedish skvallra (to babble, chatter, tell on)'.
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