gurgle

American  

[gur-guhl] / ˈgɜr gəl /

verb (used without object)

• gurgles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• gurgled,
  past participle,  past
• gurgling
  present participle

1. to flow in a broken, irregular, noisy current.

   The water gurgled from the bottle.

   Synonyms:

   babble, burble, bubble

2. to make a sound as of water doing this (often used of birds or of human beings).

   Synonyms:

   babble, burble, bubble

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verb (used with object)

• gurgles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• gurgled,
  past participle,  past
• gurgling
  present participle

1. to utter or express with a gurgling sound.

   The baby gurgled her delight.

noun

• gurgles
  plural

1. the act or noise of gurgling.

gurgle British  

/ ˈɡɜːɡəl /

verb

1. (of liquids, esp of rivers, streams, etc) to make low bubbling noises when flowing

2. to utter low throaty bubbling noises, esp as a sign of contentment

   the baby gurgled with delight

---

noun

1. the act or sound of gurgling

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• gurgling
  adjective
• gurglingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• gurgles
  plural

Participles

• gurgling
  present
• gurgled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• gurgle
  simple
• gurgles
  simple
• have gurgled
  perfect
• has gurgled
  perfect
• am gurgling
  progressive
• are gurgling
  progressive
• is gurgling
  progressive
• have been gurgling
  perfect progressive
• has been gurgling
  perfect progressive

Past

• gurgled
  simple
• had gurgled
  perfect
• was gurgling
  progressive
• were gurgling
  progressive
• had been gurgling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will gurgle
  simple
• will have gurgled
  perfect
• will be gurgling
  progressive
• will have been gurgling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of gurgle

First recorded in 1555–65; compare Dutch, Middle Low German gorgelen, German gurgeln “to gargle”; akin to Latin gurguliō “throat”

Explanation

To gurgle is to make a sound like bubbling or splashing water. Not to be confusing, but when you gargle mouthwash, you probably gurgle. People gurgle when they say something (or make a noise) with an accompanying wet, gurgling sound. Your stomach might gurgle too, especially when you're hungry. And liquid itself gurgles, like a stream that gurgles over rocks or sweet iced tea that gurgles from a bottle into your glass. Experts aren't sure if gurgle is an imitative word, from the sound itself, or if it's rooted in Latin.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gurgle gurgles gurgled gurgling

Its tick was a low-key gurgle and the alarm a dignified two-bell chime.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

“The car is a space where you’re often alone, a quiet private space, and all these thoughts, some of the stuff we’ve been pushing away, start to gurgle up.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 4, 2024

She expected to hear icebergs calving off the glacier—perhaps even the low, garden-hose gurgle of a subglacial river gushing out from underneath the glacier.

From National Geographic ● Sep. 7, 2023

But the last time I called, he could only gurgle on the phone, having suffered a stroke.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 24, 2023

He started to say something, but it came out a low gurgle.

From "Schooled" by Gordon Korman

When he meets adults he stares at them and takes them in, then kindly smiles and gurgles and lets them pat him, ruffle his hair, and take his face in their hands.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 26, 2025

"It's hard. It's really hard. We smile, yes, and thank goodness, I have a new grandson," Volodymyr's wife Vera says, as baby Yaroslav gurgles beside her on a play mat.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2025

On a visit to a Texas ostrich farm, the researchers recorded 11 types of calls, ranging from high frequency peeps and gurgles in baby ostriches to low frequency boos and booms in adult males.

From Science Daily ● May 23, 2024

They spent the night in cabins with no doors or windows, the better to let nighttime mountain breezes and the gurgles of the river lull them to sleep.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2023

My stomach gurgles as soon as I hear the word swim.

From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles

His 3-year-old son chewed on a piece of cake while the baby gurgled and continued to bounce nearby.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 25, 2021

Rock pigeons cooed and gurgled inside small crevices in the cave walls, marred in places by graffiti from long-ago visitors.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 22, 2021

In a dull and childless marriage to “a bastard of the standard-issue variety,” she is biding her time at Goode’s, her life “slipping away with the rinsing water as it gurgled down the plughole.”

From New York Times ● Feb. 11, 2020

She recalls trying to say “stop what are you doing,” but it came out as a gurgled mess.

From The Verge ● Nov. 29, 2017

The water in the brook gurgled and the frogs splashed.

From "The Season of Styx Malone" by Kekla Magoon

There were gurgling, cooing, month-and-a-half old newborns in Brooklyn and Westchester who had never known the soul-emptying pain of a crushing Knicks defeat.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026

Her baby sister gurgling helplessly in the background isn’t the only one utterly dependent on her maternal care.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026

Soon Conor’s two preoccupations will unite in an offbeat way when a bug gets crushed in his slow-acting printer while it’s gurgling out a portrait.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 8, 2026

The small town, nestled between tall Himalayan mountains with a gurgling Lidder River flowing through it, is called the mini-Switzerland of India.

From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2025

First, we went behind the house and between two banks of azaleas we found Rattling Brook, gurgling and bouncing topsy-turvy over stones.

From "Homesick" by Jean Fritz