Standard Lemma guide
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
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.
noun
Happiness, fortune.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, dialectal, obsolete, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
The right time or occasion for something, an opportune moment, season
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, countable, dialectal, obsolete, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Greeting, salutation.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *sēliz Proto-Germanic *-jaz Proto-West Germanic *-ī Proto-West Germanic *sālī Old English sǣl Middle English sel English sele Inherited from Middle English sel (“fortune, bliss; a unit of time”), from Old English sǣl (“time, occasion, an opportune time, opportunity, happiness, prosperity, good times”), from Proto-West Germanic *sālī, from Proto-Germanic *sēliz. Related to silly.
