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cackle

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cackle

  • /ˈkækəl/

Rhymes with -ækəl

Where it comes from

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 also Old English cahhetan, ċeahhettan (“to laugh loudly; cackle”), German gackern (“to cackle”).

noun cackles

  1. countable, uncountable The cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg. I heard a grey hen cackling among the ling; I called and thought, "If I could get a sight of you now, it would be your last cackle;" just then I heard something moving behind me on the path.
  2. countable, uncountable A laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose.
  3. countable, uncountable Futile or excessively noisy talk. There's no time to waste on silly cackle.
  4. collective, countable, uncountable A group of hyenas. A cackle of hyenas might take on one male lion, but two is one too many.

verb cackles · cackling · cackled

  1. intransitive To make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does. When every goose is cackling.
  2. intransitive To laugh with a broken sound similar to a hen's cry. The witch cackled evilly.
  3. intransitive To talk in a silly manner; to prattle. It is also the business of a sensible government, not to cackle on its discoveries
  4. slang, transitive To pretend to rattle (dice) in one's hand while gripping them so that they maintain their orientation. Danny cackled the dice furiously in his cupped hand, then rolled them so they stopped inches from Slattery's hands. The result was the same as before – a seven.

Translations

Every language

noun cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg

Españolcacareo
Portuguêscacarejo
Françaiscaquet
DeutschGackern, Gegacker
Italianochiocciare
Русскийкуда́хтанье kudáxtanʹje

noun laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose

Españolcacareo
Françaisricanement, gloussement
DeutschGackern, Gegacker

verb to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does

Españolcacarear
Françaiscaqueter
Deutschgackern

verb to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry

Portuguêscacarejar
Françaiscaqueter
Deutschgackern
Русскийгогота́ть gogotátʹ, куда́хтать kudáxtatʹ

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Cite this
MLA

"cackle." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/cackle. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

cackle. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/cackle

Chicago

"cackle." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/cackle.

BibTeX
@misc{cackle_2026,
  title = {cackle},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/cackle},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}