eel

CEFRB2

/iːl/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A long, thin fish that looks like a snake.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A European eel (Anguilla anguilla).

Examples

  • Holding an eel too fast is the way to let her escape.

  • The politician is as slippery as an eel!

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
4

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape:, Other ray-finned fishes:, An electric eel (any knifefish of the genus Electrophorus)

  2. Any freshwater fish of the order Anguilliformes, which are elongated and resemble snakes.

  3. Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape:

More examples

In context

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

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

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

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The slimy fish known as blank is often used in Japanese cuisine as unagi.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English el (“eel”), from Old English ǣl (“eel”), from Proto-West Germanic *āl (“eel”), 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”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish ål (“eel”), Faroese állur, álur (“eel”), Icelandic áll (“eel”).