laughter

English

Alternative forms

• laughtre (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English, 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: /ˈlɑːftə/, SAMPA: /"lA:ft@/
• (US) enPR: lăfʹtər, IPA: /ˈlæftɚ/, SAMPA: /"l{ft@`/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːftə(r)

Noun

Wikipedia laughter (usually uncountable; plural laughters)

1. The sound of laughing, produced by air so expelled; any similar sound.

   Their loud laughter betrayed their presence

2. A movement (usually involuntary) of the muscles of the laughing face, particularly of the lips, 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 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. - Sir Thomas Browne
   • Archly the maiden smiled, and with eyes overrunning with laughter - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

3. (archaic) A reason for merriment

Related terms

• laugh

Translations

sound (as) of laughing

Arabic: ضحك (ar) (DáHik, DiHk) m. Armenian: քրքիջ (hy) (k'rk'iǰ), ծիծաղ (hy) (çiçaġ) Chinese: Mandarin: 笑聲 (zh), 笑声 (zh) (xiàoshēng), (onomatopoeic) 嘿嘿 (zh) (hēihēi) Croatian: smijȇh (hr) m., hȉhōt (hr) m. Czech: smích (cs) m. Danish: latter (da) c. Dutch: gelach (nl) n. Finnish: nauru (fi) French: rire (fr) m. Georgian: სიცილი (ka) (sitsili) German: Gelächter (de) n., Lachen (de) n. Greek: γέλιο (el) (gélio) n. Irish: gáire (ga) m.

Italian: risata (it) f., riso (it) m. Japanese: 笑い声 (ja) (わらいごえ, waraigoe), 笑い (ja) (わらい, warai) Navajo: dloh Norwegian: latter (no) Persian: خنده (fa) (xande) Portuguese: risada (pt) f., risos (pt) m. Romanian: râs (ro) n., râset (ro) Russian: смех (ru) (smex) m., хохот (ru) (xóxot) m. Scottish Gaelic: gàire (gd) f. Slovak: smiech (sk) m. Spanish: risa (es) Swedish: skratt (sv) n. Turkish: kahkaha (tr), gülüş (tr)

movement of the muscles of the laughing face

Armenian: ծիծաղ (hy) (çiçaġ), քրքիջ (hy) (k'rk'iǰ) Chinese: Mandarin: 笑 (zh) (xiào) Croatian: smijȇh (hr) m. Czech: smích (cs) m. Danish: grin (da) n. Dutch: gelach (nl) n., lachen (nl) n. Finnish: nauru (fi) French: rire (fr) m. German: Gelächter (de) n., Lachen (de) n. Greek: γέλιο (el) (gélio) n.

Hungarian: nevetés (hu) Irish: gáire (ga) m. Italian: risata (it) f. Japanese: 笑い (ja) (わらい, warai) Lao: ສຽງຫົວ (lo) (siang-hua) Navajo: dloh Polish: śmiech (pl) m. Russian: смех (ru) (smex) m. Scottish Gaelic: gàire (gd) f. Swedish: skratt (sv) n.

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Afrikaans: lag, gelag Albanian: gaz m. Breton: c'hoarzh m. -où Bulgarian: смях m. (1) Catalan: rialla f, riure m. Serbo-Croatian: smijeh m. Esperanto: ridado Guaraní: puka Icelandic: hlátur m.

Interlingua: riso Kurdish: ken (ku) m. (1,2), kenîn (ku) f. (1,2), پێکه‌نین, قاقاو پێکه‌نین Latin: risus m. Portuguese: riso n. Romanian: râs n. Spanish: risa f. Tupinambá: puká Vietnamese: tiếng cười