Ruttle
noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A rattling sound in the throat arising from difficulty in breathing. Northern-England
"The most common cause of ruttles is acute viral bronchitis and, in young children, upper airway viral infection."
- 1 To gurgle; to rattle when breathing. Northern-England, intransitive
"Ruttling, heard readily without a stethoscope, is due to air bubbling through fluid in the trachea or bronchi."
Example
More examples"The most common cause of ruttles is acute viral bronchitis and, in young children, upper airway viral infection."
Etymology
From Middle English rotelen, ratelen (“to make a rattling sound while breathing, flap”), from Middle Dutch rotelen (“to rattle, wheeze, drone”) or Middle Low German rōtelen, rātelen, rūtelen (“to groan, gasp, rattle”), from Old Saxon hrot, hrod (“snot, mucus”), from Proto-West Germanic *hroþ (“saliva, mucus, snot”), probably ultimately of imitative origin. Cognate with Dutch reutelen (“to rattle”), German Rotz (“snot”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.