Cachinn

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Loud, boisterous laughter that is often excessive or hard to restrain
2. A burst of noisy, unrestrained laughing that rings out loudly
3. The act of laughing loudly and immoderately, often in a raucous way

Etymology: In Latin, "cachinnus" meant loud, boisterous laughter, and "cachinnare" was the verb for laughing that way. The Greek verb "kachazein," meaning to laugh loudly or sneeringly, is often cited as a related form, though the exact link is uncertain. Many scholars think these words were imitative, shaped to sound like the noise they describe, but that origin cannot be confirmed. English kept the stem as a learned borrowing rather than a everyday word. It survives mainly in "cachinnate," a verb for laughing loudly, and its noun "cachinnation." Both are formal, deliberately bookish terms, which is why the stem feels so unfamiliar. Writers who use them are reaching back to Latin to describe laughter with more precision than "guffaw" or "chuckle" allows.