hell

CEFRB2

/hɛl/

noun · exclamation · name

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A place of punishment believed to exist after death.

  2. 02

    exclamation

    A strong word used to express anger, surprise, or emphasis.

Examples

  • He was terrified of going to hell when he died.

  • There will be hell to pay if I don't make this deadline.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
3
Citations
5
Synonyms
2

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A place for gambling.

  2. A place or situation of great suffering in life.

name

Extra meaning

  1. A place of torment where some or all sinners are believed to go after death and evil spirits are believed to be.

More examples

In context

  • What the hell are you going to do with it?

  • I went through hell to get home today.

  • My new boss is making my job a hell.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The terrible place where bad people go after death is called blank.

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

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English hel, hell, helle, hælle, from Old English hel, hell, from Proto-West Germanic *hallju, from Proto-Germanic *haljō (“hell, netherworld”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover”). First attested in c. 725. Cognates Cognate with Yola helle (“hell”), Saterland Frisian Hälle (“hell”), West Frisian hel (“hell”), Alemannic German Hell (“hell”), Cimbrian hélla (“hell”), Dutch hel (“hell”), German Hölle (“hell”), Limburgish hel, Héll, Höll (“hell”), Luxembourgish Häll (“hell”), Vilamovian heł, hełł (“hell”), Danish helvede (“hell”), ihjel (“to death”), Faroese helviti (“hell”), Icelandic hel (“death, hell”), helvíti (“hell”), Norwegian Nynorsk hel (“death, underworld”), helve...