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cluck

/klək/
/klək/
IPA guide

Other forms: clucking; clucked; clucks

The sound a chicken makes is a cluck. One of the best things about keeping chickens in your yard is watching them scratch the dirt and listening to their clucks.

A chicken or hen clucks when she's rounding up her chicks, making a short, relatively deep sound. To do this is also to cluck, and you can use the word to talk about a fussy or overprotective parent too: "It's so funny watching him cluck over his kids at the playground." The Old English root of cluck is cloccian, and both words are imitative — they echo the sound they're describing.

Definitions of cluck
  1. noun
    the sound made by a hen (as in calling her chicks)
    synonyms: clucking
    see moresee less
    type of:
    cry
    the characteristic utterance of an animal
  2. verb
    make a clucking sounds, characteristic of hens
    synonyms: clack, click
    see moresee less
    type of:
    emit, let loose, let out, utter
    express audibly; utter sounds (not necessarily words)
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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘cluck'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
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