hail

Meanings

Noun

• Balls or pieces of ice falling as precipitation, often in connection with a thunderstorm.

Verb

• To send or release hail.
• To pour down in rapid succession.
• To greet; give salutation to; salute.
• To name; to designate; to call.
• To call out loudly in order to gain the attention of.
• To signal in order to initiate communication with.

Adjective

• Healthy, whole, safe.

Origin

• From Middle English hayle, haile, hail, from Old English hægl, from Proto-Germanic *haglaz (compare West Frisian heil, Low German Hagel, Dutch hagel, German Hagel, Danish hagl). Either from Proto-Indo-European *kagʰlos ("pebble"), or from *ḱoḱló-, a reduplication of *ḱel- (compare Old Norse héla ("frost")).
• Root-cognates outside of Germanic include Welsh caill ("testicle"), Breton kell ("testicle"), Lithuanian šešėlis ("shade, shadow"), Ancient Greek κάχληξ ("pebble"), Albanian çakëll, Sanskrit शिशिर.
• From Middle English heil ("healthy, sound"), from Old Norse heill, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz ("whole, entire, healthy"). The verb is from Middle English heilen, itself from the adjective. whole, and hale.