Learn English – Can we hear laugh

idiomsnouns

Laugh is the sound you make when you laugh, and it is also a noun: we can have a laugh, and we can have a few laughs. So why not be able to say you can hear this laugh? Does it seem wrong to say the following? Is there a reason for this?

  1. I like the sound of this laugh of the children?

  2. I like the sound of children's laugh

Best Answer

Yes, you can hear a laugh.

Your examples sound wrong, however. I think the word laughter would be a better choice there. The first one also has issues with how you're using this.

Why doesn't laugh sound right in your examples? Probably because one definition of laugh is:

a person's characteristic manner of laughing
oed.com

Children refers to more than one child, so laugh (under that definition) doesn't fit. This definition of laughter would be appropriate:

a manner of laughing.
oed.com


Hearing laughs

Like I said, it can be idiomatic to say you hear laughs. Or a singular laugh.

For example:

An Oak Hill community couple discovered a thief in their home Saturday after a man told a joke and heard a laugh upstairs.
WTF Journal

I have never heard laughs like that in my life.
The Gingerbread Lady: A New Play

In addition, these two sentences are equivalent in meaning, and both are grammatical:

  • I like her laugh.
  • I like the sound of her laugh.

Note that your title (Can we hear laugh?) is not grammatical because it requires an article (Can we hear a laugh? is grammatical).


"Having a laugh"

It's also important to realize that this expression is not entirely literal:

to laugh; to have a good time, enjoy oneself; (later also) to joke, to joke around.
oed.com

So you can also say you "heard someone having a laugh", but this is different than just hearing a laugh.