laughen

English

Verb

laughen

1. obsolete past participle of laugh.

Anagrams

• Hangeul, han-geul, hangeul

Middle English

Alternative forms

• laughe, laghe, laghen, lawen, leigh, leygh, leiȝe, leyȝe, lauȝe, lauȝhe, lawȝe, lyȝhe, lauȝen, lauȝwhen, leighȝen, lawhyn
• (early) lahhȝhenn, lihȝen, lehȝen, lahhen, lauhwen

Etymology

From Old English hlæhhan, alternative form of hlehhan, hliehhan, from Proto-West Germanic *hlahhjan, from Proto-Germanic *hlahjaną.

Pronunciation

• (primarily Early ME) IPA^(key): /ˈlaxən/, /ˈlɛxən/
• IPA^(key): /ˈlau̯xən/, /ˈlɛi̯xən/, /ˈliːxən/

Verb

laughen

1. To laugh; to break out in laughter or laughing.
   • a. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Knight's Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, lines 961–963:

     But right anon the worthy Knyght bigan / whan that he saugh that al the peple lough: / "Namoore of this, for it is right ynough!

     But right away the worthy Knight started / when he saw that all the people laughed: / "No more of this, because that's enough!

2. To express glee or joyfulness; to show happiness.
   • a. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Merchant's Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, lines 1723–1724:

     And Venus laugheth upon every wight / For Januarie was bicome hir knyght

     And Venus laughs about every person / As January has become her knight

3. (usually with a preposition) To reminisce about; to remember with affection.
4. (rare) To laugh about an incident or thing.

Conjugation

Conjugation of laughen (strong class 6 or weak in -ed)

infinitive	(to) laughen, laughe
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	laughe	lough, low, laughed
2nd-person singular	laughest	lowe, lough, low, laughedest
3rd-person singular	laugheth	lough, low, laughed
subjunctive singular	laughe	lowe1, laughed1
imperative singular		—
plural2	laughen, laughe	lowen, lowe, laugheden, laughede
imperative plural	laugheth, laughe	—
participles	laughynge, laughende	laughen, laughe, laughed

¹Replaced by the indicative in later Middle English.
²Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.

Derived terms

• laughter
• lawghynge

Descendants

• English: laugh
• Scots: lauch
• Yola: leeigh, leigh

References

• “laughen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-19.