Cackled

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To produce a loud and often sharp laugh that can express either excitement or ridicule
2. To generate a high-pitched, harsh sound of laughter frequently associated with derision or glee
3. To emit a sharp, high-pitched laugh that often conveys amusement or mockery

Etymology: "Cackled" is the simple past and past participle of "cackle," so the history that matters is the verb's. Its root is probably imitative: the Middle English forms "caclen" and "cakelen" likely came from an Old English verb reconstructed as "caclian," and the Proto-West Germanic ancestor carried the sense "to cackle, gaggle, yelp, snarl." The sound of a hen's clucking or a goose's honking seems to have shaped the word itself. The same root spread across the Germanic languages, which is good evidence of its age. Dutch has "kakelen," German has "kakeln" and "gackern," Danish has "kagle," and Swedish has "kackla," all meaning to cackle. Old English also had "cahhetan" and "ceahhettan," meaning to laugh loudly, so the human laughter sense was present from the start rather than being a later extension of the bird noise.

Synonyms: laughed, guffawed, chortled, snickered, tittered

Antonyms: cried, wept, sobbed, mourned, complained