Laughing Kookaburra
/ˈlæfɪŋ ˌkʊkəˈbʌrə/noun
An Australian kingfisher whose loud, human-like call resembles laughter.
Did you know?Kookaburra is an Aboriginal Australian loanword that imitates the bird’s call, while “laughing” was added by English speakers because the sound resembled human laughter.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*hleǵ-
“To laugh or make a laughing sound; a reconstructed root associated with Germanic laughter words.”
Old English
Old English
hlæhhan
“To laugh.”
Middle English
Middle English
laughen
“To laugh; the spelling and pronunciation gradually shifted toward modern English.”
16th Century
English
laughing
“Making or expressing laughter; used descriptively for things resembling human laughter.”
19th Century
Wiradjuri
guuguubarra
“A name imitating the kookaburra’s repeated call.”
19th Century
Australian English
kookaburra
“An English form of an Aboriginal Australian bird name, probably modeled on guuguubarra.”
Modern English
English
laughing kookaburra
“The common name for the large Australian kingfisher Dacelo novaeguineae.”