chortle

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“
Lewis Carroll's chortle (chuckle + snort) and galumphing (gallop + triumphing) are famous examples.

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Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun A snorting, joyful laugh or chuckle.
  2. intransitive and transitive verb To utter a chortle or express with a chortle.
  3. Word History
    "'O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy.” Perhaps Lewis Carroll would chortle a bit himself to find that people are still using the word chortle, which he coined in Through the Looking-Glass, published in 1872. In any case, Carroll had constructed his word well, combining the words chuckle and snort. This type of word is called a blend or a portmanteau word. In Through the Looking-Glass Humpty Dumpty uses portmanteau to describe the word slithy, saying, "It's like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word” (the meanings being "lithe” and "slimy”).

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

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Examples

  • Lewis Carroll's chortle (chuckle + snort) and galumphing (gallop + triumphing) are famous examples. —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol IX No 3
  • Students asked to offer "etymologies" for it say it probably is composed of huge and monstrous -- in other words, it is like chortle or galumph, —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol V No 1
  • He looked at it for a second and then he slammed the lid on it. —  The Hard War
  • It started as a small chuckle, descended into a chortle, then moved into a full-fledged belly laugh. —  The Brothers' War
  • "Ah!" the great chefs of Europe would chortle, gathering around the pot, or platter, or bowl, "Leggo flam! —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol XI No 3
 

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Chortle has been looked up 357 times, favorited 4 times, listed 82 times, and commented on once.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

yipping ·  cackle ·  wheeze ·  snicker ·  homonuclear ·  ululation ·  grandam ·  whoop ·  tittering ·  yelp ·  tetrafluoride ·  whinny
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Blend of chuckle and snort.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. A factitious word, humorously formed from ch(uck)le + (sn)ort. See brunch-word.
 

Pronunciations
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/ˈtʃɔrtl/
by American Heritage
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