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cackle

/ˈkækəl/noun, verb

cackle is spelled C-A-C-K-L-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 58,714th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, cackle means “The cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of cackle is cackles.

How many letters and syllables are in cackle?

Letters6: C-A-C-K-L-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 4 million words; the 58,714th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is cackle?

Cackle appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 58,714th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce cackle?

  • /ˈkækəl/

Cackle has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-cackle.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of cackle

  • cackles plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • cackling participle, present
  • cackled participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does cackle mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg.

  2. 2

    A laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose.

  3. 3

    Futile or excessively noisy talk.

  4. 4

    A group of hyenas.

verb

  1. 1

    To make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does.

  2. 2

    To laugh with a broken sound similar to a hen's cry.

    The witch cackled evilly.

  3. 3

    To talk in a silly manner; to prattle.

  4. 4

    slangTo pretend to rattle (dice) in one's hand while gripping them so that they maintain their orientation.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Cackle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcaquet (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying…), ricanement, gloussement (laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose), caqueter (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen…)
GermanGackern, Gegacker (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying…), gackern (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen…)
Portuguesecacarejo (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying…), cacarejar (to laugh with a sound similar to a hen's cry)
Spanishcacareo (cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying…), cacarear (to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does cackle come from?

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”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after cackle