Standard Lemma guide

funnel

noun · verb · 13 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation, US: /ˈfʌnəl/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Northern-England: /ˈfʊnəl/
  • rhymes with -ʌnəl
  • CMU ARPABET: F AH1 N AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A utensil in the shape of an inverted hollow cone terminating in a narrow pipe, for channeling liquids or granular material; typically used when transferring said substances from any container into ones with a significantly smaller opening.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A passage or avenue for a fluid or flowing substance; specifically, a smoke flue or pipe; the chimney of a steamship or the like.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Ellipsis of purchase funnel (“the process of customer acquisition conceptualized as a series of stages, from initial awareness (top) to sale or conversion (bottom)”).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, figuratively

Topics: business, marketing

Examples

  • top of (the) funnel marketing

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

Ellipsis of funnel cloud.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis

Topics: climatology, meteorology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

Alternative form of fummel (“hybrid animal”).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, alternative

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

verb

Meaning 6

To use a funnel.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

verb

Meaning 7

To proceed through a narrow gap or passageway akin to a funnel; to condense or narrow.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

Examples

  • Expect delays where the traffic funnels down to one lane.
  • 2014, Paul Salopek, Blessed. Cursed. Claimed., National Geographic (December 2014)https://web.archive.org/web/20150212214621/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/pilgrim-roads/salopek-text A line of clocks in our cheap hotel displays the time in Lagos, Bucharest, Kiev: the capitals of pilgrims who come to kneel at the birthplace of Christ. In reality the entire world funnels through the Church of the Nativity.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

verb

Meaning 8

To channel, direct, or focus (emotions, money, resources, etc.).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Examples

  • Our taxes are being funnelled into pointless government initiatives.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

verb

Meaning 9

To consume (beer, etc.) rapidly through a funnel, typically as a stunt at a party.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

noun

Meaning 10

(nautical) smokestack consisting of a shaft for ventilation or the passage of smoke (especially the smokestack of a ship)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: smokestack, stack

11

noun

Meaning 11

a conically shaped utensil having a narrow tube at the small end; used to channel the flow of substances into a container with a small mouth

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: utensil

12

noun

Meaning 12

a conical shape with a wider and a narrower opening at the two ends

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: funnel shape

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: cone, conoid, cone shape

13

verb

Meaning 13

move or pour through a funnel

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • funnel the liquid into the small bottle

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: move, displace

History

Etymology

From Middle English funell, fonel, probably through Old French *founel (compare Middle French fonel, Old Occitan fonilh, enfounilh), from Latin fundibulum, infundibulum (“funnel”), from infundere (“to pour in”); in (“in”) + fundere (“to pour”); compare Breton founilh (“funnel”), Welsh ffynel (“air hole, chimney”). See fuse.

Across languages

Translations

160 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: tregter — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Albanian: hinkë — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Southern Altai: воронка (voronka) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Arabic: قِمْع (qimʕ) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Arabic: قمع (ʔumʕ) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Armenian: ձագար (jagar) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Asturian: embudu — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Azerbaijani: qıf — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Azerbaijani: ağızlıq — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Bashkir: борғаҡ (borğaq) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Bashkir: буранка (buranka) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Basque: inbutu — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Basque: onil — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Belarusian: ле́йка (ljéjka) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Bhojpuri: कीप (kīp) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Bulgarian: фуни́я (funíja) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Burmese: ကတော့ (ka.tau.) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Catalan: embut — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Chinese Mandarin: 漏斗 (lòudǒu) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Czech: nálevka — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Czech: trychtýř — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Danish: tragt — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Dutch: trechter — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Emilian: ludrèt — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Emilian: luddra — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Emilian: lōdra — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Emilian: lùder — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Emilian: dvinêl — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Emilian: buvanèl — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Esperanto: funelo — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Estonian: lehter — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Finnish: suppilo — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Finnish: tratti — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • French: entonnoir — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Friulian: plere — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Galician: funil — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Galician: alfunín — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Galician: embude — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Georgian: ძაბრი (ʒabri) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • German: Trichter — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Greek: χωνί (choní) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Greek: χοάνη (choáni) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Ancient Greek: χοάνη (khoánē) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Ancient Greek: χωνεῖον (khōneîon) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Hindi: कीप (kīp) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Hungarian: tölcsér — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Icelandic: trekt — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Indonesian: corong — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Irish: tonnadóir — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Italian: imbuto — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Italian: funnel — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Japanese: 漏斗 — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Japanese: ファンネル (fanneru) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Kazakh: құйғыш (qūiğyş) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Khmer: ជីវឡាវ (ciiw laaw) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Khmer: កន្ទោងត្រង (kɑɑkɑntoong trɑɑng) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Korean: 깔때기 (kkalttaegi) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Korean: 누두 (nudu) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Korean: 루두 (rudu) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Central Kurdish: ڕەحەتی (reḧetî) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Northern Kurdish: mastêrk — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Kyrgyz: воронка (voronka) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Kyrgyz: куйгуч (kuyguc) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Lao: ດ່ຽວຈັບ (diāu chap) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Latin: fundibulum — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Latin: infundibulum — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Macedonian: и́нка (ínka) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Malay: corong — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Manx: tunneyder — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Māori: kōrere — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Māori: kōrere wai — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Mongolian: юүлүүр (jüülüür) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Mongolian: ᠶᠡᠭᠦᠯᠡᠭᠦᠷ (yegülegür) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Norwegian Bokmål: trakt — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: trakt — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: trekt — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Occitan: embut — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Occitan: enfonilh — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Old East Slavic: лии (lii) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Persian: قیف (qif) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Persian: بتو (batu) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Persian: خوهن (xuahn) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Persian: ترجهاله (tarjehāle) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Persian: تکاه (takāh) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Polish: lejek — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Polish: lijek — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Old Polish: lej — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Old Polish: lij — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Portuguese: funil — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Quechua: jumina — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Romanian: pâlnie — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Russian: воро́нка (vorónka) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Scottish Gaelic: fuineall — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Scottish Gaelic: pìob-tharraing — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Serbo-Croatian: левак — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Serbo-Croatian: љевак — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Serbo-Croatian: лијевак — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Serbo-Croatian: ли̏јак — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Serbo-Croatian: ли̏ј — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Serbo-Croatian: levak — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Serbo-Croatian: ljevak — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Serbo-Croatian: lijevak — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Serbo-Croatian: lȉjak — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Serbo-Croatian: lȉj — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Sicilian: mmutu — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Slovak: lievik — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Slovene: lijak — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Slovene: lȋj — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Somali: masaf — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Spanish: embudo — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Spanish: infundíbulo — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Spanish: fonil — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Swedish: tratt — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Tagalog: embudo — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Tagalog: brukal — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Tajik: даҳана (dahana) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Tajik: қиф (qif) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Telugu: గరాటు (garāṭu) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Thai: กรวย (gruay) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Turkish: huni — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Ottoman Turkish: خونی (huni) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Ottoman Turkish: قمع (kamʿ) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Ukrainian: лі́йка (líjka) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Uzbek: moʻri — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Uzbek: moʻrikon — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Uzbek: voronka — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Venetan: inpiria — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Vietnamese: phễu — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Vietnamese: quặn — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Welsh: twndish — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Welsh: twmffat — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Yiddish: לייקע (leyke) — utensil used to guide poured liquids
  • Dutch: door een trechter gieten — to use a funnel
  • Finnish: käyttää suppiloa — to use a funnel
  • French: utiliser un entonnoir — to use a funnel
  • Galician: enfunilar — to use a funnel
  • German: trichtern — to use a funnel
  • German: eintrichtern — to use a funnel
  • Hungarian: tölcsérrel tölt/önt — to use a funnel
  • Spanish: embudar — to use a funnel
  • Bulgarian: стичам се (stičam se) — to proceed through a narrow gap or passageway akin to a funnel
  • Bulgarian: стека се (steka se) — to proceed through a narrow gap or passageway akin to a funnel
  • Dutch: door een kleiner opening voeren — to proceed through a narrow gap or passageway akin to a funnel
  • Dutch: kanaliseren — to proceed through a narrow gap or passageway akin to a funnel
  • Finnish: ahtautua — to proceed through a narrow gap or passageway akin to a funnel
  • French: canaliser — to proceed through a narrow gap or passageway akin to a funnel
  • Hungarian: szűkül — to proceed through a narrow gap or passageway akin to a funnel
  • Hungarian: összeszűkül — to proceed through a narrow gap or passageway akin to a funnel
  • Hungarian: elkeskenyedik — to proceed through a narrow gap or passageway akin to a funnel
  • Hungarian: folyik — to proceed through a narrow gap or passageway akin to a funnel
  • Hungarian: özönlik — to proceed through a narrow gap or passageway akin to a funnel
  • Hungarian: áramlik — to proceed through a narrow gap or passageway akin to a funnel
  • Dutch: geld doen circuleren — to direct (money or resources)
  • Finnish: ohjata — to direct (money or resources)
  • German: schleusen — to direct (money or resources)
  • Hungarian: csatornáz — to direct (money or resources)
  • Hungarian: juttat — to direct (money or resources)
  • Hungarian: irányít — to direct (money or resources)
  • Spanish: canalizar — to direct (money or resources)
  • Spanish: encauzar — to direct (money or resources)
Real reading context

funnel in complete knowledge articles