# laughter

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈlɑːftə/ · frequency rank #6,065

## Definitions
1. The sound of laughing, produced by air so expelled; any similar sound.
2. A movement (usually involuntary) of the muscles of the laughing face, particularly of the lips, and of the whole body, 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.
3. A reason for merriment.

## Etymology
From Middle English laughter, laghter, laȝter, 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.

## Easily confused with
- **lighter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/laughter-vs-lighter)
- **laughed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/laughed-vs-laughter)

## Common misspellings (12)
`alughter`, `laguhter`, `laugghter`, `laughetr`, `laughhter`, `laughterr`, `laughtre`, `laughtter`, `laugther`, `lauhgter`, `llaughter`, `luaghter`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/laughter