noun
prattle
Talk about unimportant things, sometimes sounding childish.
Where it comes from
“Prattle” is recorded as an English verb in the 1530s and as a noun in the 1550s. Etymonline connects it to “prate”, meaning to chatter about unimportant things.
How the meaning developed
The meaning still concerns idle or childish talk. “Thy”, an old form of “your”, makes “Cease thy prattle” sound old-fashioned; “prattle” itself has not disappeared.
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In use
Instead of “Stop yapping.”
Try “Cease thy prattle.”
“Prattle” means talk about unimportant things, sometimes sounding childish.
“Cease” means stop. “Thy” is an old form of “your”.
So: “Stop your chatter.” It is a playful, dismissive rewrite—not a polite request.
Sources
Definitions adapted from Open English WordNet where applicable. License and attribution. Word-history text comes from Lexifour’s sourced social research; pages are assembled automatically, not individually fact-checked on every update.
Updated 2026-09-25. Report a correction.