means Unwanted, random, or meaningless sound — or by extension any disturbance that drowns out the signal you actually want.

from From Old French 'noise,' meaning a quarrel, uproar, or din — a sense English borrowed in the Middle Ages. The deeper root is debated: many trace it back to Latin 'nausea,' the seasickness that made wretched, retching passengers on a ship a roar of misery — sound born from sickness. Others point to Latin 'noxia,' meaning harm or hurt. Either way, the word began as human commotion long before it came to mean the hiss in a wire or the static between the stars.