From Middle English caclen, cakelen, perhaps from Old English *caclian, *cacolian, from Proto-West Germanic *kakulōn, *kakilōn (“to cackle, gaggle, yelp, snarl”), perhaps of imitative origin. By surface analysis, cack + -le.
Compare Dutch kakelen (“to cackle”), German Low German kakeln (“to cackle”), German kakeln (“to blather”), Danish kagle (“to cackle”), Swedish kackla (“to cackle”). Compare also Old English cahhetan, ċeahhettan (“to laugh loudly; cackle”), German gackern (“to cackle”).
Meanings
(countable, uncountable) The cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg.
I heard a grey hen cackling among the ling; I called and thought, "If I could get a sight of you now, it would be your last cackle;" just then I heard something moving behind me on the path. 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 28:
(countable, uncountable) A laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose.
(countable, uncountable) Futile or excessively noisy talk.
There's no time to waste on silly cackle. 1930, Frank Richards, The Magnet: All Quiet on the Greyfriars Front:
(collective, countable, uncountable) A group of hyenas.
A cackle of hyenas might take on one male lion, but two is one too many. 2021, Brent Henderson, The Roar Within: Unleashing the Powerful Truth of Who You Really Are, Baker Publishing Group:
A cackle of hyenas had her surrounded, enticed by the smell of her just-given birth. 2004, Gregory Townes, The Tribe, Black Print Pub., page 6:
A single male lion facing a cackle of hyenas may feel dominant enough to choose to fight them. 2025, Tom Dillon, Agile Resilience: The Psychology of Developing Resilience in the Workplace, Taylor & Francis:
Her mother's personal assistant -- the youngest hyena in the cackle 2019, C. S. E. Cooney, Desdemona and the Deep, Tordotcom:
nl gekakel (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose) · nl gesnater (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · bg кикотене (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose) · nb klukk (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · de Gackern (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · de Gackern (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose) · mk кокода́кање (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose) · fi kaakatus (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · fr ricanement (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose) · ota قهقهه (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose) · ca cloqueig (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · mi ketekete (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose) · sv kackel (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · sv kackel (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose) · bg кудкудякане (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · es cacareo (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · fr gloussement (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose) · mk кокода́кање (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · cs zakdákání (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · pt cacarejo (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · gl cacarexo (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · cs zachechtání (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose) · pl gdakanie (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · la gingrītus (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · nb kakkel (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · fi kaakatus (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose) · nl gegaggel (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · hu kotkodácsolás (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · nl kakellach (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose) · es cacareo (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose) · nl gegaggel (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose) · de Gegacker (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · cs skřehotavý smích (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose) · io kluko (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · nb klukk (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose) · ru куда́хтанье (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · hu vihogás (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose) · nl snaterlach (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose) · it chiocciare (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · nl gekakel (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · cs kdákání (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · fr caquet (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · de Gegacker (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose) · fi kaklatus (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg) · cs chechtání (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose) · nb kakkel (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose)
From Middle English caclen, cakelen, perhaps from Old English *caclian, *cacolian, from Proto-West Germanic *kakulōn, *kakilōn (“to cackle, gaggle, yelp, snarl”), perhaps of imitative origin. By surface analysis, cack + -le.
Compare Dutch kakelen (“to cackle”), German Low German kakeln (“to cackle”), German kakeln (“to blather”), Danish kagle (“to cackle”), Swedish kackla (“to cackle”). Compare also Old English cahhetan, ċeahhettan (“to laugh loudly; cackle”), German gackern (“to cackle”).
Meanings
(intransitive) To make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does.
When every goose is cackling. c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
I heard a grey hen cackling among the ling; I called and thought, "If I could get a sight of you now, it would be your last cackle;" just then I heard something moving behind me on the path. 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 28:
(intransitive) To laugh with a broken sound similar to a hen's cry.
She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid,[…]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher. 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
The witch cackled evilly.
(intransitive) To talk in a silly manner; to prattle.
It is also the business of a sensible government, not to cackle on its discoveries 1860, P. Thomspon, Audi Alteration[???]:
(slang, transitive) To pretend to rattle (dice) in one's hand while gripping them so that they maintain their orientation.
Danny cackled the dice furiously in his cupped hand, then rolled them so they stopped inches from Slattery's hands. The result was the same as before – a seven. 1941, Mignon Good Eberhart, The Third Mystery Book: Six Short Mysteries, page 120:
[…] they spun all right, or so it seemed, and hit the wall all right, or so it seemed, but bottom line was this: The stirring of the dice was merely cackling, the cubes artfully framed so that the spots in the kid's fists showed 4‐4 up‐right and weren't really rattled but rather, held in control by the pinky, forefinger and thumb; […] 2015, Jack Engelhard, The Prince of Dice, page 11:
nl snaterlachen (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · sv kackla (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · bg кикотя се (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · nl kakelen (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · mi kotokoto (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · pt cacarejar (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · la gingriō (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · fi käkättää (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · nl gaggelen (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · hu kotkodácsol (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · fr caqueter (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · nl snateren (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · fr caqueter (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · mk кокода́ка (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · mi ketekete (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · nb klukke (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · fi kaakattaa (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · fi kaakattaa (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · eo gaki (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · nb kakle (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · pl gdakać (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · cs zakdákat (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · ru куда́хтать (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · nl snateren (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · tr akukmak (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · hsb dakać (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · nb kakle (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · gl cacarexar (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · hu vihog (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · ca escatainar (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · fi kaklattaa (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · nl kakelen (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · eo rikani (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · sv kackla (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · ca cloquejar (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · nl gaggelen (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · cs kdákat (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · bg крякам (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · io klukar (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · mi ketekete (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · de gackern (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · nb klukke (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · ru гогота́ть (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · cs zachechtat se (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · cs chechtat se (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · de gackern (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · es cacarear (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does) · nrf caqu'ter (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry) · nl kakellachen (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry)