clack
/klæk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.61 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An abrupt, sharp sound, especially one made by two hard objects colliding repetitively; a sound midway between a click and a clunk.
verb
To chatter or babble; to utter rapidly without consideration.
Example Sentences
- "whose chief intent is to vaunt his spiritual clack"
- "We heard Mr. Hodson's whip clacking on the shoulders of the poor little wretches."
- "[He] walked quite jauntily across the courtyard to the distant door, his sandals clacking against the marble."
- "There is a generation of men, whose unweighed custome makes them clack out any thing their heedleſs fancy ſprings"
- "The women bunched up in little droves and let their tongues clack, and the men herded together and passed a jug around and, to tell the truth, let their tongues clack too."
- "Only the chickens clacked at the Saturday quiet and fat mouse-minded cats licked whiskers on the empty steps."
Etymology
From Middle English clacken, clakken, claken, from Old English *clacian (“to slap, clap, clack”), from Proto-Germanic *klakōną (“to clap, chirp”). Cognate with Scots clake, claik (“to utter cries", also "to bedaub, sully with a sticky substance”), Dutch klakken (“to clack, crack”), Low German klakken (“to slap on, daub”), Norwegian klakke (“to clack, strike, knock”), Icelandic klaka (“to twitter, chatter, wrangle, dispute”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: clacken, *clacian, *klakōną