chuckle

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃʌkəl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  Rhymes: -ʌkəl

Etymology 1

From chuck +‎ -le.

Noun

chuckle (plural chuckles)

1. A quiet laugh.

   Synonyms: chortle, giggle, snigger, titter; see also Thesaurus:laugh

Translations

a quiet laugh

Arabic: إِهْلَاس m (ʔihlās) Bulgarian: кискане (bg) n (kiskane), хихикане (bg) (hihikane) Dutch: gegrinnik (nl) French: ricanerie (fr) f, ricanement (fr) German: Kichern (de) n Hungarian: kuncogás (hu) Ido: kluko (io) Japanese: くすくす笑い (くすくすわらい, kusu-kusu warai) Norwegian: klukklatter m Polish: chichot (pl) m Romanian: chicot (ro) n Russian: хихи́канье (ru) n (xixíkanʹje) Vietnamese: cười khúc khích

Verb

chuckle (third-person singular simple present chuckles, present participle chuckling, simple past and past participle chuckled)

1. To laugh quietly or inwardly.
2. (transitive) To communicate through chuckling.

   She chuckled her assent to my offer as she got in the car.

3. (intransitive, archaic) To make the sound of a chicken; to cluck.
4. (transitive, archaic) To call together, or call to follow, as a hen calls her chickens; to cluck.
   • 1690, [John] Dryden, Don Sebastian, King of Portugal: […], London: […] Jo. Hindmarsh, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page number):

     if these Birds are within distance, here's that will chuckle 'em together

5. (transitive, archaic) To fondle; to indulge or pamper.

Synonyms

• (to laugh quietly): see also Thesaurus:laugh
• (to fondle): grope, pet, touch up; see also Thesaurus:fondle
• (to pamper): coddle, posset; see also Thesaurus:pamper

Translations

to laugh quietly or inwardly

Armenian: please add this translation if you can Basque: please add this translation if you can Bulgarian: кискам се (kiskam se), хихикам (bg) (hihikam) Chinese: Mandarin: 暗笑 (zh) (ànxiào) Dutch: grinniken (nl) Esperanto: subridi Finnish: hekottaa (fi), myhäillä (fi) French: ricaner (fr) Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: kichern (de) Hebrew: גִּחֵךְ (he) (giẖéch) Hungarian: kuncog (hu) Ido: klukar (io) Inupiaq: хихи́кати impf Japanese: けらけら笑う (けらけらわらう, kerakera warau) Kannada: [script needed] (pisu nagu) Khmer: សើចក្នុងពោះ (saǝc knoŋ pʊəh), សើចលាក់ (saǝc leak) Mongolian: please add this translation if you can Norwegian: klukkle, småle, sitte og more seg Polish: chichotać (pl) Portuguese: gracejar (pt) Romanian: chicoti (ro) Russian: хихи́кать (ru) impf (xixíkatʹ), хихи́кнуть (ru) pf (xixíknutʹ), посме́иваться (ru) impf (posméivatʹsja), усмехаться (ru) impf (usmexatʹsja), усмехнуться (ru) pf (usmexnutʹsja) Spanish: reír entre dientes Swedish: skrocka (sv) Thai: please add this translation if you can Vietnamese: cười khúc khích

to make the sound of chicken

Bulgarian: кудкудякам (kudkudjakam) Dutch: kakelen (nl) Finnish: kaakattaa (fi) French: glousser (fr) Norwegian: klukke Romanian: cotcodăci (ro) Russian: куда́хтать (ru) impf (kudáxtatʹ) Spanish: cocorear, cacarear (es) Swedish: kackla (sv)

Derived terms

• chucklebutt
• chucklefuck
• chuckleheaded
• chuckler
• chucklesome
• chuckleworthy
• chucklingly

 

Etymology 2

Perhaps from chock (“a log”).

Adjective

chuckle (comparative more chuckle, superlative most chuckle)

1. (obsolete) Clumsy.

Derived terms

• chucklehead