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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

giggle.

To laugh gently in a playful, nervous, or affected manner.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈɡɪɡl̩/
  1. To laugh gently in a playful, nervous, or affected manner.

    The jokes had them giggling like little girls all evening.
    I couldn't resist to giggle a little tee hee.
Where this word comes from

Early 16th century, probably of imitative origin. Or, perhaps a frequentative based on dialectal English gig (“to creak”), from Middle English gigen (“to make a creaking sound”) + -le; or perhaps of Dutch or Low German origin: compare Saterland Frisian güüchelje (“to giggle”), West Frisian giechelje (“to giggle”), Dutch giechelen (“to giggle”), German Low German giecheln (“to giggle”), dialectal German giggln, gigglen (“to giggle”), German gickeln (“to giggle”). All of these words are likely onomatopoeic as well. Also compare Alemannic German Guege (“fiddle”).

noun/ˈɡɪɡl̩/
  1. A high-pitched, silly laugh.

  2. Fun; an amusing episode.

    informal
    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.
Where this word comes from

Early 16th century, probably of imitative origin. Or, perhaps a frequentative based on dialectal English gig (“to creak”), from Middle English gigen (“to make a creaking sound”) + -le; or perhaps of Dutch or Low German origin: compare Saterland Frisian güüchelje (“to giggle”), West Frisian giechelje (“to giggle”), Dutch giechelen (“to giggle”), German Low German giecheln (“to giggle”), dialectal German giggln, gigglen (“to giggle”), German gickeln (“to giggle”). All of these words are likely onomatopoeic as well. Also compare Alemannic German Guege (“fiddle”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.