fell

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• General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /fɛl/
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• General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• Australian, New-Zealand: /fel/
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• rhymes with -ɛl
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• CMU ARPABET: F EH1 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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From Middle English fel, fell (“strong, fierce, terrible, cruel, angry”), either from Old French fel or from Old English *fel, *felo, *fæle (“cruel, savage, fierce”) (only in compounds, wælfel (“bloodthirsty”), ealfelo (“evil, baleful”), ælfæle (“very dire”), etc.), from Proto-West Germanic *fali, *falu, from Proto-Germanic *faluz (“wicked, cruel, terrifying”). Cognate with Old Frisian fal (“cruel”), Middle Dutch fel (“wrathful, cruel, bad, base”), German Low German fell (“rash, swift”), Danish fæl (“disgusting, hideous, ghastly, grim”). Compare also Middle High German vālant (“imp”) and Dutch fel (“fierce, feisty, bitter”). See felon.

* As an English surname, from the noun fell (“crag, rocky highland”). * As an English, Jewish, and German surname, from Fell (“pelt, fur”) or its Yiddish equivalent. Compare Pilcher.

From Middle English fellen, from Old English fellan, fiellan (“to cause to fall, strike down, fell, cut down, throw down, defeat, destroy, kill, tumble, cause to stumble”), from Proto-West Germanic *fallijan, from Proto-Germanic *fallijaną (“to fell, to cause to fall”), causative of Proto-Germanic *fallaną (“to fall”), from Proto-Indo-European *h2peh3lH-. Cognate with Dutch vellen (“to fell, cut down”), German fällen (“to fell”), Danish fælde (“to fell”), Norwegian felle (“to fell”).

From Middle English fell, fel, vel, from Old English fel, fell (“hide, skin, pelt”), from Proto-West Germanic *fell, from Proto-Germanic *fellą, from Proto-Indo-European *pél-no- (“skin, animal hide”). See also West Frisian fel, Dutch vel, German Fell, Latin pellis (“skin”), Lithuanian plėnė (“skin”), Russian плена́ (plená, “pelt”), Albanian plah (“to cover”), Ancient Greek πέλλᾱς (péllās, “skin”). Related to film, felt, pell, and pelt.

From Middle English fell, felle, from Old Norse fell (fjall, fiæl, “mountain range or mountain terrain above the tree line”), from Proto-Germanic *felzą, *fel(e)zaz, *falisaz (compare German Felsen 'boulder, cliff', Middle Low German vels 'hill, mountain'), from Proto-Indo-European *pels-; compare Irish aill (“boulder, cliff”), Ancient Greek πέλλα (pélla, “stone”), Pashto پرښه (parṣ̌a, “rock, rocky ledge”), Sanskrit पाषाण (pāṣāṇa, “stone”). Doublet of fjeld. Cognates includes: Danish fjeld (fjæld), Faroese fjall (fjøll), Icelandic fjall (fell), Norwegian fjell (fjøll, fjødd, fjedd, fjedl, fjill, fill, fil, fel), Swedish fjäll (Old Swedish fiæl).

Perhaps from Latin fel (“gall, poison, bitterness”), or more probably from the adjective above.

65 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Finnish: hirveä — of a strong and cruel nature
• Swedish: grym — of a strong and cruel nature
• Finnish: ärhäkkä — strong and fiery; biting; keen; sharp; pungent
• Finnish: suunnaton — very large; huge
• Finnish: sitoutunut — eager; earnest; intent
• Finnish: hakkuu — cutting-down of timber
• Bulgarian: козина (kozina) — animal hide
• Bulgarian: руно (runo) — animal hide
• Finnish: talja — animal hide
• Finnish: vuota — animal hide
• Norwegian: fell — animal hide
• Swedish: fäll — animal hide
• Bulgarian: скалист склон (skalist sklon) — rocky ridge
• Finnish: tunturi — rocky ridge
• Finnish: kukkula — rocky ridge
• Finnish: mäki — rocky ridge
• Icelandic: fell — rocky ridge
• Icelandic: fjall — rocky ridge
• Norwegian: fjell — rocky ridge
• Swedish: fjäll — rocky ridge
• Swedish: hed — wild field or upland moor
• Bulgarian: повалям (povaljam) — to make something fall
• Bulgarian: събарям (sǎbarjam) — to make something fall
• Czech: kácet — to make something fall
• Czech: skácet — to make something fall
• Danish: fælde — to make something fall
• Dutch: vellen — to make something fall
• Esperanto: dehaki — to make something fall
• Esperanto: faligi — to make something fall
• Faroese: fella — to make something fall
• Finnish: kaataa — to make something fall
• Finnish: hakata — to make something fall
• French: abattre — to make something fall
• French: faire tomber — to make something fall
• German: fällen — to make something fall
• Hungarian: kivág — to make something fall
• Hungarian: kidönt — to make something fall
• Hungarian: ledönt — to make something fall
• Ingrian: leikata — to make something fall
• Ingrian: halettaa — to make something fall
• Italian: abbattere — to make something fall
• Māori: whakahinga — to make something fall
• Middle English: fellen — to make something fall
• Old English: fellan — to make something fall
• Old English: fiellan — to make something fall
• Persian: انداختن (andâxtan) — to make something fall
• Persian: به زمین زدن (beh zamin zadan) — to make something fall
• Portuguese: abater — to make something fall
• Portuguese: derrubar — to make something fall
• Russian: вали́ть (valítʹ) — to make something fall
• Russian: повали́ть (povalítʹ) — to make something fall
• Slovak: poraziť — to make something fall
• Spanish: talar — to make something fall
• Spanish: cortar — to make something fall
• Swedish: fälla — to make something fall
• Ukrainian: зруба́ти (zrubáty) — to make something fall
• Ukrainian: зру́бувати (zrúbuvaty) — to make something fall
• Danish: fælde — to strike down, kill, destroy
• Finnish: kaataa — to strike down, kill, destroy
• Hungarian: leterít — to strike down, kill, destroy
• Hungarian: leüt — to strike down, kill, destroy
• Middle English: fellen — to strike down, kill, destroy
• Polish: zabić — to strike down, kill, destroy
• Finnish: päärmätä — sewing: to stitch down a protruding flap of fabric, as a seam allowance, or pleat
• Hungarian: beszeg — sewing: to stitch down a protruding flap of fabric, as a seam allowance, or pleat