eel

Meanings

Noun

• Any freshwater or marine fish of the order Anguilliformes, which are elongated and resemble snakes.
• The European eel, Anguilla anguilla.

Verb

• To fish for eels.
• To move with a sinuous motion like that of an eel.

Origin

• From Middle English ele, from Old English ǣl, from Proto-West Germanic *āl, from Proto-Germanic *ēlaz, which is of unknown origin.
• Cognate with West Frisian iel, Dutch aal, German Low German Aal, Ool, German Aal, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian ål.