Giggle
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A high-pitched, silly laugh.
"My audience to this not-too-easy operation was a small group of Scottish school lasses, who seemed (perhaps naturally) to find the proceedings somewhat mysterious, but at any rate amusing. I wished they would go away, but they didn't, so I had to get on with the job to the accompaniment of a background of giggles!"
- 2 a foolish or nervous laugh wordnet
- 3 Fun; an amusing episode. informal
"We put itching powder down his shirt for giggles."
- 1 To laugh gently in a playful, nervous, or affected manner.
"The jokes had them giggling like little girls all evening."
- 2 laugh nervously wordnet
Example
More examples"When I was younger, I hated going to weddings. My grandmothers and aunts would huddle around me, poke me in the side, and giggle "You're next! You're next!" They only stopped this nonsense when I began to do the same thing at funerals."
Etymology
Early 16th century, probably of imitative origin. Or, perhaps a frequentative based on dialectal English gig (“to creak”), from Middle English gigen (“to make a creaking sound”) + -le; or perhaps of Dutch or Low German origin: compare Saterland Frisian güüchelje (“to giggle”), West Frisian giechelje (“to giggle”), Dutch giechelen (“to giggle”), German Low German giecheln (“to giggle”), dialectal German giggln, gigglen (“to giggle”), German gickeln (“to giggle”). All of these words are likely onomatopoeic as well. Also compare Alemannic German Guege (“fiddle”).
Related phrases
More for "giggle"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.