el

1. (international standards)ISO 639-1language code forGreek.

• IPA^(key):/ˈɛl/,[ɛɫ]

• Audio(US):

  (file)

• Rhymes:-ɛl

FromMiddle English, fromOld Englishel, fromLatinel(the name of the letter L).

• L
• ell

el (pluralels)

1. The name of theLatin-script letterL/l.
   • 1773 October,The Monthly Review Or Literary Journal Enlarged:

     The word length, which contains only four sounds l e ng th, is usually spell'd thus,el ee en gee tee aitch.

• elpee

• (Latin-script letter names)letter;a,bee,cee,dee,e,ef,gee,aitch,i,jay,kay,el,em,en,o,pee,cue,ar,ess,tee,u,vee,double-u,ex,wye,zee /zed

1. < Shortening (Early 20th c.)

• L

el (pluralels)

1. (US) Anelevated railway, especially for specific systems such as the metro in Chicago (informal)
   • 2012, Roger P. Roess, Gene Sansone,The Wheels That Drove New York, page294:

     The main section of the Sixth AvenueEl from Morris Street to Ninth Avenue and 53rd Street shut down on December 4, 1938.

Shortening ofeleven.

el

1. Thecardinal number occurring afterdek and beforedo in aduodecimal system. Written↋, decimal value 11.

FromSpanishel.

el

1. (informal,humorous, chieflyInternetslang)The (sometimes where "the" would not occur in normal English).
   • 2007, Richard Bachman,Blaze, page125:

     "[…] A sister of Joseph Gerard[…] was found unconscious on the kitchen floor by the family cook early this morning.[…]"
     […] What leads could they have, if the old lady wasel zonko?

el (pluralels)

1. The name of theCyrillic script letterЛ /л

• -le,LE,Le,LαE,le

FromLatinille(“that one”).

el

1. him(direct object)

   Synonym:lo

• elu

FromLatinille, possibly through aVulgar Latin*illus. CompareRomanianel,Megleno-Romanianiel.

el m (pluralelj)

1. (third-person masculine singular pronoun, nominative form)he

   Synonym:nãs

el m

1. (long/stressed accusative form)him

• ea/ia (feminine equivalent (third-person singular nominative))
• elj (masculine or mixed plural),eali (feminine plural)
• ãl/ul/lu (masculine singular accusative- short/unstressed form)
• (a) lui (masculine singular genitive andmasculine singular dative- long/stressed form)
• ãlj/ilj/lji (masculine singular dative- short/unstressed form)

• io/iou,mini (first-person singular)
• tu,tini (second-person singular)
• noi (first-person plural)
• voi (second-person plural)
• nãsh,elj (third-person (masculine or mixed) plural)

FromLatinille,illum.

• IPA^(key):/el/[el]

el m sg (femininela,neuterlo,masculine plurallos,feminine pluralles)

1. (definite)the

• The articleel contracts tol’ before a word beginning with a vowel orh:l'asturianu (the Asturian),l'hermanu (the brother)
• The articleel contracts to’l after a word that ends in a vowel, if the following word begins with a consonant.

FromProto-Turkic*ēl.

• IPA^(key):/el/

• Audio:

  (file)

el (definite accusativeeli,pluralellər)

1. (somewhatpoetic)people
2. (somewhatpoetic)country,land
3. (somewhatpoetic)tract,region,district,province

• el-oba

(Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key):/ɛl/

el

1. e(preposition “in”) +ul(indefinite article “a(n)”)
2. e(preposition “in”) +al(definite article “the”)

• es(salat) in Balearic dialects.
• lo(colloquial) in North occidental dialects.

From earlierlo, fromLatinillum, fromLatinille. The initiale- was inserted as anepenthetic vowel after the unstressed-o had begun to be dropped.

• (Balearic,Central)IPA^(key):/əl/,[əɫ]
• (Valencia)IPA^(key):/el/

• Audio:

  (file)

el m (femininela,masculine pluralels,feminine pluralles)

1. the;definite article
2. neuter definite article used to make abstract nouns from adjectives;the;what, that which

   el bo iel dolent ―the good andthe bad

   el que hem de fer ―what we have to do

• Before a word that begins with a vowel or silenth- followed by a vowel, the forml' is used.

• en, masculine singular definite article for given names.

el (proclitic,contractedl',encliticlo,contracted enclitic'l)

1. him (direct object)

• el is the reinforced (reforçada) form of the pronoun. It is used before verbs beginning with aconsonant.

  Ellael considerava estúpid. ―She regarded him as stupid.

• “el” inDiccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició,Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “el”, inGran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana,Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana,2025
• “el” inDiccionari normatiu valencià,Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “el” inDiccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

FromMiddle Cornishêl,eyl,eal, fromOld Cornishail, a borrowing fromProto-Brythonic*angel, fromLatinangelus, fromAncient Greekἄγγελος(ángelos). Cognate withBretonael,Welshangel.

el m (pluraleledh)

1. (religion)angel

(Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium.)

el

1. hand,forearm
2. ell

• Mirjejev, V. A., Usejinov, S. M. (2002)Ukrajinsʹko-krymsʹkotatarsʹkyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]‎^[1], Simferopol: Dolya,→ISBN

• IPA^(key):[ˈɛl]

el n (indeclinable)

1. The name of theLatin-script letterL/l.

• “el”, inPříruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech),1935–1957
• “el”, inSlovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech),1960–1971, 1989

• lo

FromLatinille,illud.

el

1. the;masculine singular definite article

• i
• la

FromOld Norseelri(“alder”), cf.ǫlr (compareIcelandicelri,Swedishal,Norwegian Bokmålolder), fromProto-Germanic*aluz,*alusō (compareEnglishalder), variant of*alizō,*alisō (compareDutchels,GermanErle), fromProto-Indo-European*h₂élisos.

• IPA^(key):/ɛl/,[ɛlˀ]

el c (singular definiteellen,plural indefiniteelle)

1. alder

Introduced in the 1940’s afterSwedishel, abbreviation ofelektricitet(“electricity”).

• IPA^(key):/ɛl/,[ɛl]

el c (singular definiteellen,not used in plural form)

1. electricity

   Synonym:strøm

FromMiddle Dutchelne,elle, fromOld Dutch*elina, fromProto-West Germanic*alinu. Cognate withEnglishell,German Low GermanEll,GermanElle.

• IPA^(key):/ɛl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation:el
• Rhymes:-ɛl
• Homophone:Ell

el f orm (pluralellen,diminutiveelletje n)

1. (archaic) aunit oflength corresponding to about 69 cm:ell,cubit

• elleboog
• ellepijp
• ellenlang

• Negerhollands:el
• → Caribbean Javanese:élo
• → Sundanese:élo

• IPA^(key):/el/
• Hyphenation:el

el (personal)

1. (nominative case, feminine)they
2. (accusative case, feminine)them

• Becomeselj- before a vowel.
• Becomes-li when acting as an enclitic.

Obscure; may be derived fromLatinex(“out of”).

• IPA^(key):/el/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes:-el
• Hyphenation: el

el

1. made of

   Tio estas ĉemizoel silko ―This is a shirt made of silk.

2. from (of)

   Antonym:al

   El kie vi venis?
   Mi venisel Nov-Jorko.

   Where did you come from?
   I came fromNew York.

   • 1906, Louis de Beaufront,Grammaire et exercices de la langue internationale espéranto:

     Li estas la plej riĉa homoel la mondo.

     He is the richest man in the world.

   • 1906, Louis de Beaufront,Grammaire et exercices de la langue internationale espéranto:

     Li estas la malplej riĉael ni.

     He is the least rich of us.

FromLatinille(“that”).

• IPA^(key):/ˈel/
• Rhymes:-el
• Syllabification:el

el m sg (pluralelis,feminineela,feminine pluralelas)

1. Third person singular masculine nominative pronoun;he

• Valeš, Miroslav (2021)Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu (web)‎^[2], 2nd edition, Minde, Portugal: CIDLeS, published2022,→ISBN

Inherited fromLatinilla.

el f (postpositive-el)(ORB, broad)

1. she,it(third-person singular feminine nominative)

• elle [1] in DicoFranPro:Dictionnaire Français/Francoprovençal – ondicofranpro.llm.umontreal.ca
• el in Lo trèsor Arpitan – onarpitan.eu

• IPA^(key):/jel/

Inherited fromOld Anatolian Turkishال(el), fromProto-Turkic*elig. CompareTurkishel,Azerbaijaniəl

el (definite accusativeeli,pluralellär)

1. (anatomy)hand

Inherited fromOld Anatolian Turkishیل(yẹl), fromProto-Turkic*yẹl. CompareTurkish andAzerbaijaniyel.

el (definite accusativeeli,pluralellär)

1. wind

   Synonyms:lüzgär,boran

2. storm

Inherited fromOld Anatolian Turkishایل(ẹl), fromProto-Turkic*ēl. CompareTurkishel.

el (definite accusativeeli,pluralellär)

1. stranger,outsider

• N. A Baskakov, editor (1972), “ел”, inGagauzsko-Russko-Moldavskij Slovarʹ [Gagauz-Russian-Moldovan Dictionary], Moskva: Izdatelʹstvo Sovetskaja Enciklopedija,→ISBN, page175
• Çebotar, Petri, Dron, Ion (2002) “el”, inGagauzça-Rusça-Romınca Sözlük [Gagauz-Russian-Romanian Dictionary], Chișinău: Pontos Press,→ISBN, page234
• Kopuşçu M. İ. , Todorova S. A. , Kiräkova T.İ., editors (2019), “el”, inGagauzça-rusça sözlük: klaslar 5-12, Komrat: Gagauziya M.V. Maruneviç adına Bilim-Aaraştırma merkezi,→ISBN, page61

• ile,il
• ele(reintegrationist)

FromLatinille(“that”).

• IPA^(key):/ˈel/
• Rhymes:-el
• Hyphenation:el

el m (accusativeo,dativelle)

1. he
2. it(impersonal pronoun, optative subject of impersonal verbs)

   El chove ―It rains

3. it(optatively, can introduce a question)

   Que cousa preciosa!El será pecado? ―What a precious thing! Couldit be a sin?

The accusative formo has variant formslo andno. These alternative forms appear depending on the ending of the preceding word. The formlo is used when the preceding word ends in-r or-s. Theno form is used when the preceding word ends in-u or a diphthong. These alternative forms are then suffixed to the preceding word.

The accusative also forms contractions when it immediately follows an indirect object pronoun. For example,dou che o contracts todoucho(“I gave it to you”).

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane,María Álvarez de la Granja,Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “el”, inDicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela:Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “el”, inDicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela:Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández,Ernesto Xosé González Seoane,María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “el”, inTesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela:Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “el”, inTesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela:Instituto da Lingua Galega,→ISSN

FromPortugueseele. Cognate withKabuverdianuel.

el

1. he,she(third person singular)

(Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key):[ˈɛl]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes:-ɛl

el

1. off

   El a kezekkel! ―Hands off!

2. away
3. yes(used as an affirmative answer to a question containing a verb prefixed withel- or to emphasize a preceding statement, having the same value as the verb in question)

   A:Eladtátok a házat? - B:El. ―A: Did you sell the house? B:Yes.

This term may also be part of the split form of a verb prefixed withel-, occurring when the main verb does not follow the prefix directly. It can be interpreted only with the related verb form, irrespective of its position in the sentence, e.g.meg tudták volnanézni(“they could haveseen it”,frommegnéz). For verbs with this prefix, seeel-; for an overview,Appendix:Hungarian verbal prefixes.

• Annaelment? Nem mentel. ―Has Anna left [goneaway]? No, she has not.

el

1. (intransitive,drama)exit,exeunt; he/sheleaves or theyleave thescene orstage(stage direction for an actor or multiple actors)

   Antonym:jön(“s/he comes”)

• el inGéza Bárczi,László Országh,et al., editors,A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962.Fifth ed., 1992:→ISBN.
• el inNóra Ittzés, editor,A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031(work in progress; publisheda–ez as of 2024).

• le

• IPA^(key):/ɛːl/
• Rhymes:-ɛːl

el

1. first-personsingularpresentindicative ofala

• IPA^(key):/el/,/ɛl/

el (pluraleli,possessiveelua,possessive pluralelui)

1. Apocopic form ofelu;she,her

FromDutchel.

• IPA^(key):/ɛl/,[ɛl]

èl (pluralel-el)

1. The name of theLatin-script letterL/l.

• (Latin-script letter names)huruf;a,be,ce,de,e,ef,ge,ha,i,je,ka,el,em,en,o,pe,ki,er,es,te,u,ve,we,eks,ye,zet

• “el” inKamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta:Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

FromLatinillum <ille.

el

1. hethird-person singular masculine personal pronoun
   • 1877, Antonio Ive,Canti popolari istriani: raccolti a Rovigno, volume 5, Ermanno Loescher, page128:

     Ch’in tu’l su’ fassulitoel me metasse.

     That into his handkerchiefhe would put me.

• gila

FromLatinille.

el m sg (femininela)

1. the

• IPA^(key):/ˈel/
• Rhymes:-el
• Hyphenation:él
• (stressed, determiner)IPA^(key):/ˈel/
  • Hyphenation:él
• (unstressed, article and contraction)IPA^(key):/el/

el m sg

1. Archaic andregional form ofil

el m

1. (rare,literary)Apocopic form ofello

el

1. (obsolete)Contraction ofeil:andthe

• e'l

• -le,LE,Le,le

Derived fromEnglishhell

• IPA^(key):/ɛl/

el (pluralel dem,quantifiedel)

1. (religion)hell
   • 2012,Di Jamiekan Nyuu Testiment, Edinburgh: DJB, published2012,→ISBN,Matyu 5:29:

     Ef unu rait yai a mek unu sin, tier it out an dash it we! Aftaraal it beta fi luuz onggl wan badi paat, dan di wol a di badi get fling dong ael.

     If your right eye makes you sin, gouge it out and throw it away! After all, it is better to lose one body part than for the whole body to be thrown intohell.

FromPortugueseele.

el

1. he,she(third person singular)

el (verbal nounayla)

1. (obsolete) tohave,own,possess

   Synonyms:sɛu,ɣur

2. (obsolete) tobelong to

This verb's conjugation has fallen into general disuse by the 19th century, with only its past participleilan surviving in various expressions. Its verbal noun,ayla(“possession”), remains in vigorous use.

• IPA^(key):/el/

el (Hebrew spellingאיל,plurallos,femininela)

1. the(masculine singular)

el (Hebrew spellingאיל)

1. he,it

• (Classical Latin)IPA^(key):/ˈel/,[ˈɛɫ̪]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical)IPA^(key):/ˈel/,[ˈɛl]

el f (indeclinable)

1. The name of the letterL.

• Multiple Latin names for the letterL,l have been suggested. The most common isel or asyllabicl, although there is some evidence which also supports, as names for the letter,lē,ll,əl,lə, and even (in the fourth- or fifth-century first Antinoë papyrus(Canthis⁽⁺⁾ etymology besourced?), which gives Greek transliterations of the Latin names of the Roman alphabet’s letters)ιλλε(ille).

• (Latin-script letter names)littera;ā,bē,cē,dē,ē,ef,gē,hā /*acca,ī,kā,el,em,en,ō,pē,kū,er,es,tē,ū,ix /īx /ex,ȳ /ī graeca /ȳpsīlon,zēta

• el inGaffiot, Félix (1934)Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Arthur E. Gordon,The Letter Names of the Latin Alphabet (University of California Press, 1973; volume 9 ofUniversity of California Publications: Classical Studies), especially pages 30–31, 42–44, and 63

• IPA^(key):[ɛl]

• Audio:

  (file)

el m (invariable)

1. The Latvian name of theLatin script letterL/l.

• Latvian letter names:

  a (A),garais ā (Ā),bē (B),cē (C),čē (Č),dē (D),e (E),garais ē (Ē),ef (F),gā (G),ģē (Ģ),hā (H),i (I),garais ī (Ī),jē (J),kā (K),ķē (Ķ),el (L),eļ (Ļ),em (M),en (N),eņ (Ņ),o (O),pē (P),er (R),es (S),eš (Š),tē (T),u (U),garais ū (Ū),vē (V),zē (Z),žē (Ž)

FromLatinille.

el m sg (femininela,neuterlu,masculine plurallos,feminine pluralles)

1. the(definite article)

• The prepositionsa,de,pa,cun,en andpur contract withel, unlessel is part of a proper noun.

  ‎a + ‎el → ‎al

  ‎de + ‎el → ‎del

  ‎pa + ‎el → ‎pal

  ‎cun + ‎el → ‎cul

  ‎en + ‎el → ‎nel

  ‎pur + ‎el → ‎pul

• The articleel contracts tol' before a word beginning with a vowel orh:

  l'home ―the man

  fala l'home ―the man is speaking

• The article 'el contracts to'l after a word that ends in a vowel, if the following word begins with a consonant.

  fala'l neñu ―the child is speaking

• IPA^(key):/ɛl/

el m inan

1. The name of theLatin-script letterl/L.

• (Latin-script letter names)a,bej,cej,čet,ćej,dej,ej,ět,ef,gej,ha,cha,i,jot,ka,eł,el,em,en,ejn,o,pej,er,ejŕ,es,eš,śej,tej,u,wej,y,zet,žet,źej

FromOld Dutch*elli, fromProto-West Germanic*alljas.

• IPA^(key):/el/

el

1. other,another

el

1. else,otherwise
2. elsewhere

• “el (I)”, inVroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek,2000
• “el, els”, inVroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek,2000
• Verwijs, E.,Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “el (I)”, inMiddelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff,→ISBN, page I
• Verwijs, E.,Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “el (II)”, inMiddelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff,→ISBN, page II

• eel,ele,hele,iel,yele

FromOld Englishǣl, fromProto-West Germanic*āl, fromProto-Germanic*ēlaz.

• IPA^(key):/ɛːl/,/eːl/

el (pluraleles)

1. eel

• English:eel
• Scots:eel
• Yola:eale

• “ēl(e,n.(3).”, inMED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007, retrieved2019-03-03.

• IPA^(key):/eːl/

el

1. third-personsingularpresentsubjunctive ofmynet

el

1. he

Borrowed fromSwedishel.

el

1. short form ofelektrisitet,elektrisk,elektro-, used mainly in compound words. It is treated as a noun rather than a prefix, in the same manner as Swedish.

• elbil
• elmotor

• “el” inThe Bokmål Dictionary.

Borrowed fromSwedishel.

el n

1. short form ofelektrisitet,elektrisk,elektro-, used mainly in compound words. It is treated as a noun rather than a prefix, in the same manner as Swedish.

• elbil
• elmotor

FromOld Norseél.

• IPA^(key):/eːl/

el n (definite singularelet,indefinite pluralel,definite pluralela)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out andadd a translation, then remove the text{{rfdef}}.

See the etymology of the correspondinglemma form.

el

1. presenttense ofala

See the etymology of the correspondinglemma form.

el

1. presenttense ofelja

• “el” inThe Nynorsk Dictionary.

FromOld Occitan[Term?], fromLatinille.

• Audio(Languedoc):

  (file)

el

1. he(third-person singular subject pronoun)
2. it(third-person singular subject pronoun)

• IPA^(key):/el/

el m

1. el, the letterL

• enl(veryrare)

el

1. Contraction ofenle(“in the”).
   • c.1250,Marie de France,Equitan:

     m'est une anguisseel quer ferue, ki tut le cors me fet trembler

     Such a pain has pierced my heart, that it makes my whole body quiver

FromLatinalius.

el

1. somethingelse
   • c.1150, Thomas d'Angleterre,Le Roman de Tristan, Champion Classiques edition,→ISBN, page94, lines857–8:

     ne puet en sun cuerel penser
     fors ço sul: Tristran amer.

     she cannot in her heart think of anything else
     apart from one thing: to love Tristan.

el

1. Apocopic form ofele
   • a.1284,Alfonso X of Castile,Cantigas de Santa Maria,Códice de los músicos,cantiga 14 (facsimile):

     fugiu conel a Egipto. terra de Reẏ Faraon.

     ran away withhim to Egypt, land of the Pharaoh king.

el

1. first-personsingularactivepresentindicative ofala

FromLatinille. Akin toCatalanel andSpanishel.

• Rhymes:-ɛl
• Hyphenation:el

el m sg

1. Only used inel-rei:the

Inherited fromVulgar Latin*illus, fromLatinille.

• IPA^(key):/jel/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

el m (third-person singular,pluralei,feminine equivalentea)

1. (nominative form)he

   Synonym:(polite form)dumnealui

el m (stressed accusative form ofel)

1. (direct object, preceded by preposition, such as "pe", "cu", "la", or "pentru")him

• ea(third-person feminine singular)
• ei(third-person masculine plural)
• ele(third-person feminine plural)