jail

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• /d͡ʒeɪl/
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• Southern-England: 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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• rhymes with -eɪl
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• CMU ARPABET: JH EY1 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh1-der. Proto-Indo-European *ḱowh1ós? Proto-Italic *kawos Latin cavus Latin cavea Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Latin -ulus Latin -ola Late Latin caveola Anglo-Norman jaiolebor. Middle English gayole English jail Inherited from Middle English gayole, borrowed from Anglo-Norman jaiole, from Late Latin caveola, from Latin cavea (“cage”) + -ola (diminutive ending). Doublet of caveola and related to cage. More at cajole. Fully displaced native Middle English quartern (“prison, jail, cell”), from Old English cweartern (“jail, prison”). Partially displaced native Middle English lok, from Old English loc (“enclosure, pen; jail, prison”), whence lock; and Middle English carcern, from Old English carcern, from Latin carcer (“prison, jail”). Compare these Old English words, all meaning “jail”: heaþor, heolstorloca (means also “jail cell”), clūstorloc, dung (also “dungeon”), hlinræced, nirwþ, nīedcleofa, hearmloca, and nearu.

145 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Afrikaans: tronk — place for short-term confinement
• Albanian: burg — place for short-term confinement
• Arabic: سِجْن (sijn) — place for short-term confinement
• Arabic: حَبْس (ḥabs) — place for short-term confinement
• Armenian: բանտ (bant) — place for short-term confinement
• Azerbaijani: həbs — place for short-term confinement
• Basque: espetxe — place for short-term confinement
• Belarusian: турма́ (turmá) — place for short-term confinement
• Belarusian: астро́г (astróh) — place for short-term confinement
• Belizean Creole: jayl — place for short-term confinement
• Bulgarian: затво́р (zatvór) — place for short-term confinement
• Bulgarian: апс (aps) — place for short-term confinement
• Burmese: အကျဉ်း (a.kyany:) — place for short-term confinement
• Catalan: presó — place for short-term confinement
• Cherokee: ᏗᏓᏍᏚᏗ (didasdudi) — place for short-term confinement
• Chinese Cantonese: 監倉 /监仓 (gaam1 cong1) — place for short-term confinement
• Chinese Mandarin: 監獄 /监狱 (jiānyù) — place for short-term confinement
• Choctaw: aboha kʋllo — place for short-term confinement
• West Circassian: хьэпс (ḥɛps) — place for short-term confinement
• Czech: vězení — place for short-term confinement
• Danish: arrest — place for short-term confinement
• Danish: arresthus — place for short-term confinement
• Dutch: gevangenis — place for short-term confinement
• Esperanto: arestejo — place for short-term confinement
• Estonian: vangla — place for short-term confinement
• Finnish: poliisivankila — place for short-term confinement
• Finnish: putka — place for short-term confinement
• Finnish: vankila — place for short-term confinement
• Finnish: tyrmä — place for short-term confinement
• French: prison — place for short-term confinement
• French: geôle — place for short-term confinement
• Galician: cadea — place for short-term confinement
• Galician: trenla — place for short-term confinement
• Galician: prisión — place for short-term confinement
• Georgian: ციხე (cixe) — place for short-term confinement
• Georgian: საპატიმრო (saṗaṭimro) — place for short-term confinement
• Georgian: საპყრობილე (saṗq̇robile) — place for short-term confinement
• German: Gefängnis — place for short-term confinement
• Greek: φυλακή (fylakí) — place for short-term confinement
• Greek: δεσμωτήριο (desmotírio) — place for short-term confinement
• Hebrew: כֶּלֶא (kéle) — place for short-term confinement
• Hebrew: מַאֲסָר (maasár) — place for short-term confinement
• Hindi: कारागार (kārāgār) — place for short-term confinement
• Hindi: बन्दीघर (bandīghar) — place for short-term confinement
• Hindi: जेल (jel) — place for short-term confinement
• Hindi: क़ैदख़ाना (qaidxānā) — place for short-term confinement
• White Hmong: nkuaj — place for short-term confinement
• Hungarian: fogda — place for short-term confinement
• Hungarian: fogház — place for short-term confinement
• Ido: karcero — place for short-term confinement
• Indonesian: penjara — place for short-term confinement
• Indonesian: bui — place for short-term confinement
• Indonesian: kurungan — place for short-term confinement
• Indonesian: rumah tahanan — place for short-term confinement
• Ingrian: tyrmä — place for short-term confinement
• Interlingua: carcere — place for short-term confinement
• Interlingua: prision — place for short-term confinement
• Irish: carcair — place for short-term confinement
• Italian: carcere — place for short-term confinement
• Italian: prigione — place for short-term confinement
• Italian: gattabuia — place for short-term confinement
• Italian: galera — place for short-term confinement
• Japanese: 監獄 (kangoku) — place for short-term confinement
• Khmer: គុក (kuk) — place for short-term confinement
• Korean: 감옥 (gamok) — place for short-term confinement
• Korean: 교도소 (gyodoso) — place for short-term confinement
• Lao: ຄຸກ (khuk) — place for short-term confinement
• Latin: carcer — place for short-term confinement
• Latin: ferriterium — place for short-term confinement
• Macedonian: затвор (zatvor) — place for short-term confinement
• Macedonian: апс (aps) — place for short-term confinement
• Malay: penjara — place for short-term confinement
• Mi'kmaq: laplesoon — place for short-term confinement
• Mongolian: хар гэр (xar ger) — place for short-term confinement
• Khiamniungan Naga: ākhòujām — place for short-term confinement
• Navajo: awáalya — place for short-term confinement
• Norwegian: fengsel — place for short-term confinement
• Ojibwe: gibaakwa'odiiwigamig — place for short-term confinement
• Okinawan: 牢屋 (rūya) — place for short-term confinement
• Old English: cweartern — place for short-term confinement
• Old English: carcern — place for short-term confinement
• Pannonian Rusyn: гарешт (harešt) — place for short-term confinement
• Persian: زندان (zendân) — place for short-term confinement
• Persian: حبسخانه (habsxâne) — place for short-term confinement
• Persian: بندیخانه (bandixâne) — place for short-term confinement
• Plautdietsch: Kjarkja — place for short-term confinement
• Plautdietsch: Jefenkjniss — place for short-term confinement
• Portuguese: cadeia — place for short-term confinement
• Portuguese: cárcere — place for short-term confinement
• Punjabi: ਜੇਲ੍ਹ (jelh) — place for short-term confinement
• Romanian: închisoare — place for short-term confinement
• Romanian: temniță — place for short-term confinement
• Romanian: pușcărie — place for short-term confinement
• Russian: тюрьма (tjurʹma) — place for short-term confinement
• Serbo-Croatian: затвор — place for short-term confinement
• Serbo-Croatian: тамница — place for short-term confinement
• Serbo-Croatian: zatvor — place for short-term confinement
• Serbo-Croatian: tamnica — place for short-term confinement
• Slovak: väzenie — place for short-term confinement
• Slovene: zapor — place for short-term confinement
• Somali: xabsi — place for short-term confinement
• Spanish: cárcel — place for short-term confinement
• Spanish: presidio — place for short-term confinement
• Spanish: penal — place for short-term confinement
• Spanish: trullo — place for short-term confinement
• Spanish: chirona — place for short-term confinement
• Spanish: trena — place for short-term confinement
• Spanish: gayola — place for short-term confinement
• Spanish: peni — place for short-term confinement
• Spanish: chincha — place for short-term confinement
• Spanish: chironda — place for short-term confinement
• Swedish: häkte — place for short-term confinement
• Tagalog: piitan — place for short-term confinement
• Tajik: зиндон (zindon) — place for short-term confinement
• Thai: คุก (kúk) — place for short-term confinement
• Tibetan: བཙོན་ཁང (btson khang) — place for short-term confinement
• Tocharian B: prautke — place for short-term confinement
• Turkish: hapis — place for short-term confinement
• Turkish: hapishane — place for short-term confinement
• Ottoman Turkish: زندان (zindân, zındân) — place for short-term confinement
• Tuvan: кара-бажың (kara-bajıñ) — place for short-term confinement
• Ukrainian: в'язни́ця (vʺjaznýcja) — place for short-term confinement
• Ukrainian: тюрма́ (tjurmá) — place for short-term confinement
• Urdu: کاراگار (kārāgār) — place for short-term confinement
• Urdu: بندیگھر (bandīghar) — place for short-term confinement
• Urdu: جیل (jēl) — place for short-term confinement
• Urdu: قیدخانہ (qaidxānā) — place for short-term confinement
• Vietnamese: nhà tù — place for short-term confinement
• Vietnamese: nhà tạm giam — place for short-term confinement
• Welsh: carchar — place for short-term confinement
• Welsh: jael — place for short-term confinement
• Yiddish: טורמע (turme) — place for short-term confinement
• Yonaguni: 牢屋 (duya) — place for short-term confinement
• Yup'ik: kantalaq — place for short-term confinement
• Finnish: vankeus — confinement
• Finnish: pidätys — confinement
• Greek: φυλάκιση (fylákisi) — confinement
• Hungarian: börtön — confinement
• Hungarian: börtönbüntetés — confinement
• Hungarian: bebörtönzés — confinement
• Hungarian: elzárás — confinement
• Hungarian: szabadságvesztés — confinement
• Italian: isolamento — confinement
• Polish: więzienie — confinement
• Finnish: vankila — dodgeball: area for confinement