Meanings
- uncountableHeavy tickling often leading to laughter.
2017, Etymologist Susie Dent, appearing on "Would I Lie To You" Series 11, Episode 4, broadcast on 11 December 2017. "My dad once broke my leg during a particularly vigorous bout of gargalesis... or the light kind which is called knismesis."
3 more examples
Pending a better nomenclature we suggest for the former the term knismesis and for the latter the term gargalesis, with the adjectives knismic and gargalic, hyperknismesis and hyper-gargalesis for excess, etc.
1897, G. Stanley Hall, Arthur Alliń, “The Psychology of Tickling, Laughing, and the Comic”, in The American Journal of Psychology, 9(1) (Oct., 1897), pp. 1-41Gargalesis, the heavy tickle associated with play and laughter and seemingly with pleasure, may be limited to the primates, but not solely to human beings.
1999 Christine R. Harris, "The Mystery of Ticklish Laughter," American Scientist, 87(4) (July-August 1999), p344The second type of tickle called gargalesis is evoked by a heavier touch to particular areas of the body such as armpits or ribs. Such kind of stimuli usually results in laugher and squirming.
2009 August 18-21, Alena Neviarouskaya, Dzmitry Tsetserukou, Helmut Prendinger, Naoki Kawakami, Susumu Tachi & Mitsuru Ishizuka, "Emerging System for Affectively Charged Interpersonal Communication," ICROS-SICE International Joint Conference 2009, p3380
Origin
- Ancient Greekγαργαλίζω“tickle”
- Englishgargalesis
From Ancient Greek γαργαλίζω (gargalízō, “tickle”) + -esis.
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
gargalesis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gargalesis
“gargalesis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gargalesis. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gargalesis,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gargalesis.
Source: gargalesis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.