Etymograph

English

laughter

Laughter comes from Middle English laughter ‘Laughing’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *klek-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*klek-1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hlahtraz1reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hleahtor1‘laughter, jubilation, derision’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500laughter1‘Laughing’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1646laughter1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English laughter
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […]: “The act of laughter, which is caused by a…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*klek-Wiktionary, English laughterreconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hlahtrazWiktionary, English laughterreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hleahtorWiktionary, English laughter‘laughter, jubilation, derision’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500laughterWiktionary, English laughter‘Laughing’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1646laughterWiktionary, English laughter. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […]: “The act of laughter, which is caused by a…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *klek-

low, 3 more

Today it means

noun The sound of laughing, produced by air so expelled; any similar sound.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *klek- / laughter

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