ruttle

R1U1T1T1L1E1

noun

A rattling sound in the throat arising from difficulty in breathing.

OriginMiddle English rotelen ← Middle Dutch rotelen ← Middle Low German rōtelen →
Scrabble 6
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Meanings

nounruttle (plural ruttles)

plural ruttles

  1. Northern EnglandA rattling sound in the throat arising from difficulty in breathing.

    The most common cause of ruttles is acute viral bronchitis and, in young children, upper airway viral infection.

    2018, Sotirios Fouzas et al., “Clinical Usefulness of Breath Sounds”, in Kostas Priftis et al., editors, Breath Sounds: From Basic Science to Clinical Practice, page 44
verbruttle (third-person singular simple present ruttles, present participle ruttling, simple past and past participle ruttled)

present singular third person ruttles · participle present ruttling · participle past ruttled · past ruttled

  1. Northern EnglandintransitiveTo gurgle; to rattle when breathing.

    His breath ruttled as he blew outward and sent the plants to trembling.

    2020, Marly Youmans, Charis in the World of Wonders: A Novel Set in Puritan New England, page 216
    1 more example

    Ruttling, heard readily without a stethoscope, is due to air bubbling through fluid in the trachea or bronchi.

    1973, Ronald Illingworth, Common Symptoms of Disease in Children, page 144

Origin

  1. Proto-West Germanic*hroþ“saliva, mucus, snot”
  2. Old Saxonhrot
  3. Middle Low Germanrōtelen
  4. Middle Dutchrotelen“to rattle, wheeze, drone”
  5. Middle Englishrotelen
  6. Englishruttle

From Middle English rotelen, ratelen (“to make a rattling sound while breathing, flap”), from Middle Dutch rotelen (“to rattle, wheeze, drone”) or Middle Low German rōtelen, rātelen, rūtelen (“to groan, gasp, rattle”), from Old Saxon hrot, hrod (“snot, mucus”), from Proto-West Germanic *hroþ (“saliva, mucus, snot”), probably ultimately of imitative origin. Cognate with Dutch reutelen (“to rattle”), German Rotz (“snot”).

More words from Middle English, Middle Dutch, Middle Low German

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

turtleLutter
Cite this entry
APA

ruttle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ruttle

MLA

“ruttle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ruttle. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ruttle,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ruttle.

Source: ruttle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.