cluck

¹ American  

[kluhk] / klʌk /

verb (used without object)

1. to utter the cry of a hen brooding or calling her chicks.

2. to make a similar sound; express concern, approval, etc., by such a sound.

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verb (used with object)

1. to call or utter by clucking.

noun

1. the sound uttered by a hen when brooding, or in calling her chicks.

2. any clucking sound.

cluck ² American  

[kluhk] / klʌk /

noun

Slang.

1. a dull-witted, stupid person; blockhead; dolt.

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cluck British  

/ klʌk /

noun

1. the low clicking sound made by a hen or any similar sound

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verb

1. (intr) (of a hen) to make a clicking sound

2. (tr) to call or express (a feeling) by making a similar sound

Etymology

Origin of cluck¹

1475–85; variant of clock ¹ (now dial. and Scot), Middle English clokken, Old English cloccian to cluck; cognate with Dutch klokken

Origin of cluck²

1900–05, special use of cluck ¹

Example Sentences

It certainly also helps that chicken thighs, by wide acclaim, are more difficult to cluck up in the kitchen.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026

“I was on the dance floor acting strange,” the lyrics go, “flapping my arms I began to cluck, look at me, I’m the disco duck.”

From New York Times • Jan. 24, 2024

"Everyone has their own inyeon," they cluck back.

From Salon • Jul. 15, 2023

With the annual Thanksgiving holidays fast approaching, the agency leaned heavily into festive puns in their caption, quipping that its officers "are always working around the cluck to keep you safe".

From BBC • Nov. 8, 2022

The family, including Maman, despise the boy’s Nazi collaboration, but they fuss and cluck over him when he visits home.

From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein

Related Words

• coo