eel

See also: Eel, e'el, eʼel, eel-, and -eel

English

An eel

Etymology

From Middle English el, from Old English ǣl (“eel”), from Proto-West Germanic *āl, from Proto-Germanic *ēlaz (“eel”), which is of unknown origin.

Cognates:

Cognate with West Frisian iel (“eel”), Dutch aal (“eel”), German Low German Aal, Ool (“eel”), German Aal (“eel”), Swedish, Danish and Norwegian ål (“eel”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: ēl, IPA^(key): /iːl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːl
• Homophone: 'e'll

Noun

eel (plural eels)

2. Any freshwater fish of the order Anguilliformes, which are elongated and resemble snakes.
   • 1995 December 26, William J. Broad, “Creatures of the Deep Find Their Way to the Table”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Off the United States, the National Marine Fisheries Service is helping industry explore fisheries for deep shrimp, rattails, chimeras, orange roughy, smoothheads, slackjaw eels, blue hake, skates and dogfish, which the National Fisheries Institute, an industry group, in an effort to improve their marketability, has renamed cape shark.

3. A European eel (Anguilla anguilla).
4. Someone or something that is sneaky and/or hard to catch.

   That Dennis is a right eel, he always seems to slip away from the scene at the right time.

   • 2003, Catherine Anderson, Only by Your Touch:

     His expression when incredulous. "Why would you think that?" He was a slippery little eel.

   • 2004, F. Scott Spencer, Dancing Girls, Loose Ladies, and Women of the Cloth, page 26:

     Philosophers and literary critics from ancient times, along with social scientists, physicians, theologians, and biblical scholars more recently, have tried to get a tentative handle, if not a firm grasp, on this "slippery eel" of humor and laughter.

   • 2016, Jody Hedlund, Newton and Polly: A Novel of Amazing Grace, page 131:

     John scowled after the dog. "Never fear, my lady. I shall get the sneaky, slippery eel yet."

Derived terms

• African eel
• African longfin eel (Anguilla mossambica)
• African mottled eel (Anguilla bengalensis labiata)
• African spoon-nose eel (Mystriophis rostellatus)
• Asian swamp eel (Monopterus albus)
• bastard eel (Gymnothorax miliaris)
• conger eel (Congridae spp.)
• Congo eel (Amphiuma spp.: order Caudata)
• cusk-eel (Ophidiidae spp.)
• cutthroat eel (family Synaphobranchidae spp.)
• deep-sea spiny eel (family Notacanthidae spp.: order Notacanthiformes)
• deepwater big-eyed worm eel
• duckbill eel (family Nettastomatidae)
• eel basket
• eel-blenny
• eelboat
• eelbuck
• eeler
• eelfare
• eelfish
• eelgrass (Zostera spp., [marine], Vallisneria spp. [freshwater])
• eelish
• eellike, eel-like
• eelpot
• eelpout, eel-pout (Zoarcidae spp.)
• eelskin
• eelspear
• eely
• electric eel (order Gymnotiformes spp.)
• European eel (Anguilla anguilla)
• fire eel (Mastacembelus erythrotaenia)
• garden eel (Heterocongrinae spp.)
• glass eel
• gulper eel
• Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica)
• lamper eel (Petromyzontiformes spp.)
• longfin eel (Anguilla mossambica)
• longneck eel (Derichthyidae spp.)
• marbled eel
• Mauritanian shortface eel (Panturichthys mauritanicus)
• monkeyface eel (Cebidichthys violaceus)
• moray eel (Muraenidae spp.)
• mud eel (Siren intermedia spp.: order Caudata)
• neck eel (Derichthyidae spp.)
• pelican eel (Eurypharynx pelecanoides)
• pike eel (Muraenesox bagio)
• ramper eel
• rubber eel (family Typhlonectidae spp.: order Gymnophiona)
• sand eel (family Ammodytidae spp.)
• sawtooth eel (family Serrivomeridae)
• sea eel
• short-finned eel
• silver eel
• slime eel (Myxinidae spp.)
• slippery as an eel
• snake eel, snake-eel (family Ophichthidae spp.)
• snipe eel (family Nemichthyidae spp.)
• snowflake eel
• spaghetti eel (family Moringuidae spp.)
• spiny eel (family Mastacembelidae spp.: order Synbranchiformes)
• swamp eel
• thin eel (genus Myroconger spp.)
• two-legged eel (Siren intermedia spp.: order Caudata)
• vinegar eel
• wheat-eel
• wolf eel
• worm eel (families Ophichthidae spp., Moringuidaespp., et al)

 

Translations

any fish of the order Anguilliformes

• Abenaki: nahômo
• Afrikaans: aal (af), paling (af)
• Aklanon: igat
• Albanian: ngjalë (sq) f
• Algonquin: mihtúckquashep
• Arabic: أَنْقَلِيس m (ʔanqalīs), أَنْكَلِيس m (ʔankalīs)

  Egyptian Arabic: حَنَشْ m (ḥanaš)

  Hijazi Arabic: أَنْقَليس m (ʔangalīs), أَنْكَليس m (ʔankalīs)

  Levantine, North: أَنْكَلِيس m (ʔankalīs)

  Levantine, South: حَنْكَلِيس m (ḥankalīs)

  Moroccan Arabic: نُونَة m (nūna)

• Armenian: օձաձուկ (hy) (ōjajuk)
• Asturian: anguila f
• Azerbaijani: ilan balığı
• Basque: aingira
• Bau Bidayuh: bodung
• Belarusian: ву́гар m (vúhar), вуго́р m (vuhór)
• Bengali: বানমাছ (banomach)
• Bislama: namarae
• Breton: silienn (br) m
• Bulgarian: змио́рка (bg) f (zmiórka)
• Burmese: ငါးရှဉ့် (my) (nga:hrany.)
• Catalan: anguila (ca) f
• Cayuga: gǫ́ːdeh
• Cebuano: kasili
• Central Melanau: beduong
• Ch'orti': utuʼ čay
• Cherokee: ᏢᏕᎦ (tlvdega)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 鰻魚／鳗鱼 (maan⁴ jyu²)

  Hokkien: 鰻／鳗 (muâ), 鱸鰻／鲈鳗 (zh-min-nan) (lô͘-môa), 海鰻／海鳗 (zh-min-nan) (hái-môa), 烏耳鰻／乌耳鳗 (zh-min-nan) (o͘-hī-môa)

  Mandarin: 鰻魚／鳗鱼 (zh) (mányú), 鰻／鳗 (zh) (mán), 鱔魚／鳝鱼 (zh) (shànyú), 䱇／𱇞 (zh) (shàn)

• Cornish: sylli f
• Corsican: anguilla
• Creek: acv´ppv
• Czech: úhoř (cs) m
• Dalmatian: anǧola
• Danish: ål (da) c, ålefisk c
• Daur: kotmaal
• Dhivehi: ވެނ (ven)
• Dutch: paling (nl) m, aal (nl) m (before it can spawn), palingachtigen (nl) pl
• Elfdalian: ål m
• Esperanto: angilo
• Estonian: angerjas (et), angerjalised
• Faroese: állur m, álur m
• Finnish: ankerias (fi), ankeriaskala
• French: anguille (fr) f
• Friulian: bisat m
• Galician: airoa (gl) f, anguía (gl) f
• Georgian: გველთევზა (ka) (gveltevza, literally “snake fish”), გველთევზასნაირნი pl (gveltevzasnairni)
• German: Aal (de) m, Aalartige pl
• Greek: χέλι (el) n (chéli)

  Ancient: ἔγχελυς f (énkhelus)

• Greenlandic: nimeriaq
• Gujarati: બામ માછલી f (bām māchlī)
• Haitian Creole: zangi
• Hawaiian: puhi
• Hebrew: צְלוֹפָח (he) (tzlofáḥ)
• Higaonon: kasili
• Hindi: बाँब (hi) (bāmb), बाम (hi) (bām), सर्पमीन f (sarpamīn)
• Hungarian: angolna (hu)
• Icelandic: áll (is) m
• Ido: anguilo (io)
• Indonesian: belut (id), sidat (id), ikan mua (id)
• Ingrian: ankerias
• Irish: eascann f
• Isnag: ixat
• Italian: anguilla (it) m
• Japanese: ウナギ (ja) (unagi), 鰻 (ja) (うなぎ, unagi)
• Javanese: welut (jv)
• Kannada: ನೀರಹಾವು (nīrahāvu)
• Kapampangan: igat (black), palus
• Kashubian: wãgòrz m
• Kazakh: жыланбалық (jylanbalyq)
• Khmer: អន្ទង់ (km) (ɑntʊəng)
• Klamath-Modoc: ġawi
• Korean: 장어 (ko) (jang'eo)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: مارماسی (ckb) (marmasî)

  Northern Kurdish: marmasî (ku) m (literally “snake fish”)

• Lao: ຕົວອ່ຽນ (tūa ʼīan)
• Latin: anguilla f
• Latvian: zutis (lv) m
• Limburgish: aol (li)
• Lithuanian: ungurys m, unguriažuvės pl
• Luxembourgish: Éil (lb), Laangfësch (literally “long fish”)
• Macedonian: јагула f (jagula)
• Malay: belut (ms), ikan mua
• Malayalam: ആരൽ (ml) (āral), മനഞ്ഞില്മത്സ്യം (manaññilmatsyaṁ), വഴുതിമാറുന്നവന് (vaḻutimāṟunnavanŭ), വിലാഞ്ഞില് (vilāññilŭ)
• Maltese: sallur m
• Manx: astan f
• Maori: tuna
• Marathi: बाम माछली (bām māchlī)
• Mi'kmaq: ga't anim
• Middle English: el
• Mongolian: могой загас (mn) (mogoj zagas, literally “snake fish”)
• Nahuatl: cōāmichin
• Navajo: naʼashǫ́ʼii łóóʼ (literally “lizard fish”)
• Neapolitan: capitone
• Ngazidja Comorian: mhunga class 3/4
• Norn: ål m
• Northern Sami: ággaras
• Norwegian: ål (no) m
• O'odham: wamad watopi
• Occitan: anguila (oc) f
• Old English: ǣl m
• Old Norse: áll m
• Ottoman Turkish: ییلان بالغی (yılan balığı)
• Persian: مارماهی (fa) (mârmâhi)
• Polabian: voďör m
• Polish: węgorz (pl) m, węgorzokształtne pl
• Portuguese: enguia (pt) f
• Romanian: anghilă (ro) f, țipar (ro) m
• Romansch: anguilla f
• Russian: у́горь (ru) m (úgorʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: easgann (gd) f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: јегуља f, угор m

  Roman: jegulja (sh) f, ugor (sh) m

• Sicilian: anghidda (scn) f, ancidda (scn), ncidda (scn), nghidda (scn)
• Slovak: úhor m
• Slovene: jegulja (sl) f, ogór m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wugoŕ m

  Upper Sorbian: wuhor m

• Spanish: anguila (es) f
• Swahili: mkunga (sw)
• Swedish: ål (sv) c
• Tagalog: igat
• Tajik: мормоҳӣ (tg) (mormohi)
• Tamil: விலாங்கு (ta) (vilāṅku)
• Telugu: మలుగు చేప (malugu cēpa)
• Tetum: tuna
• Thai: ปลาไหล (th) (bplaa lăi)
• Tibetan: སྦྲུལ་ཉ (sbrul nya)
• Tok Pisin: mario
• Turkish: yılan balığı (tr) (literally “snake fish”)
• Ukrainian: вуго́р m (vuhór)
• Uyghur: تاسما (tasma)
• Venetan: bixato (vec) m, bixat m, bixata f, bisato
• Vietnamese: cá chình
• Volapük: (♂♀) pil (vo), (♂) hipil, (♀) jipil (vo), (♂♀) snekafit (older term)
• Walloon: anweye (wa)
• Waray-Waray: indong
• Welsh: llysywen (cy) m
• West Coast Bajau: badung
• West Frisian: iel c
• White Hmong: ntses nab
• Wiradjuri: galindulin
• Yiddish: ווענגער m (venger)

Anguilla anguilla — see European eel

See also

• elver

Verb

eel (third-person singular simple present eels, present participle eeling, simple past and past participle eeled)

1. (intransitive) To fish for eels.
2. (intransitive) To move with a sinuous motion like that of an eel.

References

• eel on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Anguilliformes on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Anguilliformes on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• ELE, Lee, l'ee, lee

Estonian

Noun

eel

1. adessive singular of esi

Ingrian

Spatial inflection of eel

↗︎○	allative	eelle
○	adessive	eel
○↘︎	ablative	eelt

Pronunciation

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈe.elːæ/, [ˈe̞.e̞lʲː]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈe.el/, [ˈe̞.e̞l]
• Rhymes: -e.elː, -e.el
• Hyphenation: eel
• Homophone: eelle

Postposition

eel (+ genitive)

1. before, in front of (of location)

Noun

eel

1. adessive singular of esi

References

• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 38

Middle English

Noun

eel

1. Alternative form of el

Mopan Maya

Verb

eel

1. to know, to have knowledge of

References

• Hofling, Charles Andrew (2011). Mopan Maya–Spanish–English Dictionary, University of Utah Press.