Word of the Day

: December 10, 2017

cachinnate

verb KAK-uh-nayt

What It Means

: to laugh loudly or immoderately

cachinnate in Context

As the author read from her newest book, we tried to tune out the spectator cachinnating at the back of the auditorium.

"And all the way the Fates walking with him, whispering and cachinnating, ordering him to tread there, breathe here, spit there, unless he wanted to be eviscerated by destiny." — Will Self, Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys, 1998

Did You Know?

Cachinnate has been whooping it up in English since the 19th century. The word derives from the Latin verb cachinnare, meaning "to laugh loudly," and cachinnare was probably coined in imitation of a loud laugh. As such, cachinnare is much like the Old English ceahhetan, the Old High German kachazzen, and the Greek kachazein—all words of imitative origin that essentially meant "to laugh loudly." Our words giggle and guffaw are unrelated to those (and to each other) but they too are believed to have been modeled after the sound of laughter.