Etymologically
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giggle

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈɡɪɡl̩/[1]

Etymology

It is imitative,[2][3][4][5][6][7] probably formed with the frequentative suffix -le, like gaggle and cackle.[8][3] Similar words are Dutch giechelen,[3][9][10] Middle High German gickeln[3][9] and German kichern.[3][11] Weekley saw in it a thinner sound than gaggle,[11] and Partridge a thinning of that word.[12] Johnson derived it from a Dutch gichgelen.[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

To laugh on and on in a light way that suggests silliness or amusement one cannot hold back: 1509, in Barclay's Shyp of Folys, a translation of Brant.[3][8][14]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart dates the noun to 1577.[8] The OED first finds it in 1611, in Cotgrave, as a word for a giddy girl, a giglet, and in the sense "a giggling laugh" from before 1677, in Barrow's sermons.[3] From before 1657 the verb could also be transitive, to utter something with a giggle, and giggle away or giggle out meant to waste time giggling.[3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to laugh idly; to titter" and remarked that it was retained in Scotland, but the OED notes that 18th-century English writers used it freely.[13][3] The plural the giggles, a fit of giggling that will not stop, is recorded from 1881.[3] In the 20th century a giggle also became something amusing, a joke (1936), as in for a giggle,[3][7] and a group of girls or young children (1940), on the model of gaggle.[3] In Suffolk a giggle was a giggling girl.[15]

Timeline

  • 1509 – to laugh in a silly or uncontrolled way.[3][8][14]
  • 1577 – noun, a giggling laugh.[8] The OED's first record of this sense is from before 1677.[3][14]
  • 1611 – noun, a giddy girl (obsolete).[3]
  • before 1657 – transitive, to utter with a giggle.[3]
  • 1881 – the giggles.[3]
  • 1936 – something amusing; a joke.[3]
  • 1940 – a group of girls or young children.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To laugh lightly in a silly or nervous way, often while trying to hold the laughter back: The children giggled behind their hymn books.[14][7][3]
  2. To say something with a giggle.[14][3]

Noun

  1. A light, silly or nervous laugh.[7][14][3]
  2. (informal, chiefly British) Something or someone amusing; a joke: They only did it for a giggle.[7][14][3]
  3. the giggles: a fit of giggling that one cannot stop.[7][3]
  4. (colloquial) A group of girls or young children.[3]

Word family

  • giggler
  • gigglingly
  • giggly
  • gaggle
  • cackle
  • giglet

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  8. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  11. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)