chortle
noun & verb

- a joyful, somewhat muffled laugh, rather like a snorting chuckle

- to laugh in a way that shows you are very pleased

Vocab dot com / Collins Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN

Until 1871, nobody chortled. This was not because the activity now known as chortling did not exist. People certainly chortled, but they did not know they were doing so, as the word had not yet been invented. Then Lewis Carroll used it in the opening pages of 'Alice Through The Looking Glass', in the poem called 'Jabberwocky'. From then on, people uttering a particular kind of chuckle - louder than average, and containing a hint of triumph or celebration - at last had a word for what they were doing.

To create “chortle” Carroll probably blended “chuckle” (in sich hineinlachen) +‎ “snort” (grunzen).

Over time, it has entered the English language to refer to a mirthful and somewhat eccentric form of laughter.

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LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE

- "Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face." — Victor Hugo

- "Humor is reason gone mad." — Groucho Marx

- "If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane." — Robert Frost

- "Laughter is like an instant vacation." — Milton Berle

- "Life is too important to be taken seriously." — Oscar Wilde

- "Humor is like a rubber sword; it allows you to make a point without drawing blood." — Mary Hirsch

- "The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up." — Mark Twain

- "Laughter is the closest distance between two people." — Victor Borge

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SYNONYMS

a twinkle in the eye, a wink across the room, amusement, banter, belly laugh, buffoonery, CHORTLE, chuckle, comedy, drollery, farce, fun, gag, giggle, guffaw, hearty laugh, hilarity, howler, irony, jest, jestful, jesting, joke, jocularity, knee-slapper, lark, laughter, levity, merriment, mirth, music to the soul, parody, punchline, quip, rib-tickler, roar, running gag, sarcasm, satire, snicker, titter, tomfoolery, wag, waggishness, wit

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