cluck
/klʌk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.32 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A setting hen.
verb
To call together, or call to follow, as a hen does her chickens.
Example Sentences
- ""I came across him once," he continued, "when he was playing down on the main road to Skaug; there he sat in the middle of the road with a lot of hens around him, I counted seven, and there were more round about in the wood, for I heard them clucking and calling behind every bush.""
- "My mother clucked her tongue in disapproval."
- "When she, poor hen, fond of no second brood, Has clucked thee to the wars and safely home."
Etymology
From Middle English clokken, clocken, from Old English cloccian (“to cluck, make a noise”), from Proto-West Germanic *klukkwōn, from Proto-Germanic *klukkwōną (“to make a sound, cluck”), of imitative origin. Cognate with Scots clok, clock (“to cluck”), Dutch klokken (“to cluck”), Low German klucken (“to cluck”), German glucken (“to cluck”), Danish klukke (“to cluck”), Swedish klucka (“to cluck”), Icelandic klökkva (“to sob, whine, cluck”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: clokken, cloccian, *klukkwōn, *klukkwōną, -
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /klʌk/
- British English: /klʌk/
Usage
- Intransitive verb
- Transitive verb
- British usage