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Definition 2024


gell

gell

English

Noun

gell (plural gells)

  1. Eye dialect spelling of girl.
    • 1861, George Eliot, Chapter 14”, in Silas Marner:
      Well, mayhap that'll do, as it's a little gell, for they're easier persuaded to sit i' one place nor the lads.
    • 1906, Edith Nesbit, The Railway Children, Chapter 4: "The engine-burglar":
      "You're a naughty little gell, that's what you are," said the fireman, and the engine-driver said:--
      "Daring little piece, I call her," but they made her sit down on an iron seat in the cab and told her to stop crying and tell them what she meant by it.
  2. Alternative form of gill (a leech)

Breton

Noun

gell

  1. Soft mutation of kell.

Cornish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡɛlː/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Celtic *gello- (yellow) or *gelo- (white) (compare Middle Welsh gell (yellow), Old Irish gel (white, fair, shining), whence Irish geal (white, bright)), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- (gleam, yellow) (compare English yellow, Ancient Greek χλωρός (khlōrós, light green), Latin helvus (dull yellow), Lithuanian žalias (green), Persian زر (zar, yellow), Sanskrit हरि (hari, greenish-yellow), Welsh gwelw (pale))).

Adjective

gell

  1. light brown

Etymology 2

Non-lemma forms.

Noun

gell

  1. Soft mutation of kell.

German

Etymology

From gelten (to be valid).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡɛl/
  • Rhymes: -ɛl

Adverb

gell

  1. (colloquial, regional, southern Germany, Austria) right?; is it?; is it not?
    Wir gehen, gell?
    We’re going, aren’t we?
    Du verstehst mich, gell?
    You understand me, right?

Synonyms


Icelandic

Verb

gell (strong)

  1. first-person singular present indicative of gjalla

Old Irish

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *geldo- (pledge).

Noun

gell n, m

  1. a pledge, a surety.
    1. a hostage
  2. a stake, a wager
  3. (by extension of the previous senses) the equal, the equivalent
  4. in prepositional phrases
    • do gheall ar
      for the sake of
    • i ... ngeall
      in need of; depending on
    • i ngeall ar
      by means of; on account of; in exchange for; pledged to
    • i ngeall re
      in pledge for; in lieu of; as the equivalent of; depending on; on account of
    • mar gheall air
      in return for

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms

Descendants

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Nasalization
gell gell
pronounced with /ɣ(ʲ)-/
ngell
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

  • gell” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

Welsh

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡɛɬ/

Noun

gell

  1. Soft mutation of cell.

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
cell gell nghell chell
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.