different between laughter vs giggle

English

Alternative forms

• laughtre (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English laughter, laghter, la?ter, from Old English hleahtor (“laughter, jubilation, derision”), from Proto-Germanic *hlahtraz (“laughter”), from Proto-Indo-European *klek-, *kleg- (“to shout”). Cognate with German Gelächter (“laughter, hilarity, merriment”), Danish and Norwegian latter (“laughter”), Icelandic hlátur (“laughter”). More at laugh.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?l??ft?/
• (US) enPR: l?f?t?r, IPA^(key): /?læft?/
• Rhymes: -??ft?(r)

Noun

laughter (usually uncountable, plural laughters)

1. The sound of laughing, produced by air so expelled; any similar sound.
2. A movement (usually involuntary) of the muscles of the laughing face, particularly of the lips, and of the whole body, with a peculiar expression of the eyes, indicating merriment, satisfaction or derision, and usually attended by a sonorous and interrupted expulsion of air from the lungs.

   • The act of laughter, which is caused by a sweet contraction of the muscles of the face, and a pleasant agitation of the vocal organs, is not merely, or totally within the jurisdiction of ourselves.

   • Archly the maiden smiled, and with eyes overrunning with laughter.

3. (archaic) A reason for merriment.

Usage notes

Laughter is statistically the happiest English language word on Twitter according to the Hedonometer, an online tool that measures happiness, with an overall happiness score of 8.5 out of 9, followed by happiness, which scored 8.44, and love, which scored 8.42.

Related terms

• laugh

Translations

Anagrams

• laughtre

Middle English

Alternative forms

• (Early ME) lehter, lihter, leihter, lahter, leahter, hleiter
• lauhtre, laghter, la?ter, lau?ter, laughtere, lau?tere, laghtre, laughtre, lei?tir, la?tir, lau?tur, laughtir

Etymology

From Old English hleahtor, from Proto-Germanic *hlahtraz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?lau?xt?r/, /?l?i?xt?r/, /?laxt?r/, /?lixt?r/

Noun

laughter (plural laughtres)

1. Laughter; the production of laughs or snickers.

2. An instance or bout of laughing or laughter.
3. A humorous matter; something worthy of being derided.

Descendants

• English: laughter
• Scots: lachter, lauchter

References

• “laughter, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-19.

English

Etymology

Unknown. Perhaps a frequentative based on dialectal English gig (“to creak”), from Middle English gigen (“to make a creaking sound”) +? -le. Compare Middle English gigge, gige (“a squeaking sound; a creak”), Dutch giechelen, German kichern.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /????l/
• Rhymes: -???l

Verb

giggle (third-person singular simple present giggles, present participle giggling, simple past and past participle giggled)

1. To laugh gently or in a high-pitched voice; to laugh in a silly or giddy way.

   The jokes had them giggling like little girls all evening.

Synonyms

• (laugh in a silly way): titter
• See also Thesaurus:laugh

Derived terms

• giggly

Translations

Noun

giggle (plural giggles)

1. A high-pitched, silly laugh.
2. (informal) Fun; an amusing episode.

   We put itching powder down his shirt for giggles.

   The women thought it would be quite a giggle to have a strippergram at the bride's hen party.

Synonyms

• (laugh): titter
• (amusement): amusement, fun, a joke, a laugh or laughs

Translations