cackle

Pronunciation: /ˈkækəl/

The English word “cackle” has 8 meanings listed here.

noun

The cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg.
A laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose.
Futile or excessively noisy talk.
A group of hyenas.

verb

To make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does.
To laugh with a broken sound similar to a hen's cry.
To talk in a silly manner; to prattle.
To pretend to rattle (dice) in one's hand while gripping them so that they maintain their orientation.

Etymology

From Middle English caclen, cakelen, perhaps from Old English *caclian, *cacolian, from Proto-West Germanic *kakulōn, *kakilōn (“to cackle, gaggle, yelp, snarl”), perhaps of imitative origin. By surface analysis, cack + -le. Compare Dutch kakelen (“to cackle”), German Low German kakeln (“to cackle”), German kakeln (“to blather”), Danish kagle (“to cackle”), Swedish kackla (“to cackle”). Compare…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.