Crackle
/ˈkræk.əl/noun
To make a series of short, sharp popping sounds, or a series of sharp sounds themselves.
Did you know?The word is an expressive formation in English, built to imitate the sound itself, but it belongs to a whole family of sound-symbolic words that helped English turn raw noise into meaning.
Etymological Timeline
Middle English
English
craklen
“To make a series of sharp cracking sounds; to snap or crackle.”
Early Modern English
English
crackle
“To emit repeated small sharp sounds; to give off a crackling noise.”
Modern English
English
crackle
“To make or emit a rapid series of short, sharp popping sounds.”
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ger- / *krek- (expressive sound symbolism)
“Reconstructed sound-symbolic roots associated with harsh, cracking noises.”