spell

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• spĕl
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• /spɛl/
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• US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• rhymes with -ɛl
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• CMU ARPABET: S P EH1 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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From the German surname, perhaps related to Speller.

From Middle English spell, spel, from Old English spell (“news, story”), from Proto-Germanic *spellą (“speech, account, tale”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- (“to tell”) or from Proto-Indo-European *bhel- (“to speak, to sound”) with the s-mobile prefix. Cognate with dialectal German Spill, Icelandic spjall (“discussion, talk”), spjalla (“to discuss, to talk”), guðspjall (“gospel”) and Albanian fjalë (“word”).

From Middle English spelen, from Old English spelian (“to represent, take or stand in the place of another, act as a representative of another”), akin to Middle English spale (“a rest or break”), Old English spala (“representative, substitute”).

From Middle English spel (“a thin piece of wood”), from Old Norse [Term?].

From Middle English spellen, from Anglo-Norman espeler, espeleir, Old French espeller, espeler (compare Modern French épeler), from Frankish *spelōn, merged with native Old English spellian (“to tell, speak”), both eventually from Proto-Germanic *spellōną (“to speak”). Related with etymology 1. The sense “indicate a future event” probably in part a backformation from forespell (literally “to tell in advance”).

389 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Albanian: yshtje — magical incantation
• Arabic: تَعْوِيذَة (taʕwīḏa) — magical incantation
• Azerbaijani: ovsun — magical incantation
• Azerbaijani: sehr — magical incantation
• Azerbaijani: cadu — magical incantation
• Azerbaijani: pitik — magical incantation
• Bulgarian: заклинание (zaklinanie) — magical incantation
• Catalan: encís — magical incantation
• Catalan: conjur — magical incantation
• Catalan: embruixament — magical incantation
• Catalan: encantament — magical incantation
• Chinese Mandarin: 咒語 /咒语 (zhòuyǔ) — magical incantation
• Chinese Mandarin: 咒文 (zhòuwén) — magical incantation
• Czech: kouzlo — magical incantation
• Czech: zaříkadlo — magical incantation
• Czech: zaklínadlo — magical incantation
• Danish: fortryllelse — magical incantation
• Danish: besværgelse — magical incantation
• Dutch: toverspreuk — magical incantation
• Esperanto: sorĉo — magical incantation
• Estonian: loits — magical incantation
• Finnish: loitsu — magical incantation
• French: charme — magical incantation
• French: maléfice — magical incantation
• French: sort — magical incantation
• French: sort — magical incantation
• French: formule magique — magical incantation
• Friulian: fature — magical incantation
• Galician: encantamento — magical incantation
• Galician: feitizo — magical incantation
• German: Zauberspruch — magical incantation
• German: Zauberformel — magical incantation
• German: Zauberwort — magical incantation
• Greek: ξόρκι (xórki) — magical incantation
• Ancient Greek: ἐπαοιδή (epaoidḗ) — magical incantation
• Ancient Greek: ἐπῳδή (epōidḗ) — magical incantation
• Ancient Greek: κήλημα (kḗlēma) — magical incantation
• Ancient Greek: μάγευμα (mágeuma) — magical incantation
• Hebrew: כִּשּׁוּף (kishúf) — magical incantation
• Hebrew: לַחַשׁ (láẖash) — magical incantation
• Hungarian: varázsige — magical incantation
• Icelandic: galdraþula — magical incantation
• Indonesian: mantra — magical incantation
• Ingrian: taika — magical incantation
• Ingrian: noitasana — magical incantation
• Interlingua: incantamento — magical incantation
• Interlingua: formula magic — magical incantation
• Irish: briocht draíochta — magical incantation
• Irish: ortha — magical incantation
• Irish: piseog — magical incantation
• Italian: incantesimo — magical incantation
• Italian: formula magica — magical incantation
• Italian: fattura — magical incantation
• Italian: maledizione — magical incantation
• Italian: maleficio — magical incantation
• Italian: sortilegio — magical incantation
• Italian: malocchio — magical incantation
• Japanese: 呪文 (jumon) — magical incantation
• Kashmiri: مٲنٛتھٕر (mạ̄nthụr) — magical incantation
• Khalaj: afsûn — magical incantation
• Khalaj: əfsûn — magical incantation
• Korean: 주문 (jumun) — magical incantation
• Korean: 마력 (maryeok) — magical incantation
• Latin: venēficium — magical incantation
• Latin: cantiō — magical incantation
• Latin: incantātiō — magical incantation
• Latin: cantāmen — magical incantation
• Latin: fascinum — magical incantation
• Latvian: burvju vārdi — magical incantation
• Malay: jampi — magical incantation
• Malay: mantera — magical incantation
• Middle English: conjurisoun — magical incantation
• Middle English: charme — magical incantation
• Norman: charme — magical incantation
• Norman: chorchéthon — magical incantation
• Norwegian: trylleformel — magical incantation
• Norwegian: formel — magical incantation
• Norwegian: besvergelse — magical incantation
• Old English: gealdor — magical incantation
• Persian: طلسم — magical incantation
• Polish: czar — magical incantation
• Polish: zaklęcie — magical incantation
• Portuguese: encantamento — magical incantation
• Portuguese: feitiço — magical incantation
• Romanian: vrajă — magical incantation
• Romanian: farmec — magical incantation
• Romanian: descântec — magical incantation
• Romanian: descântătură — magical incantation
• Russian: заклина́ние (zaklinánije) — magical incantation
• Russian: за́говор (zágovor) — magical incantation
• Slovene: urok — magical incantation
• Spanish: encanto — magical incantation
• Spanish: hechizo — magical incantation
• Spanish: conjuro — magical incantation
• Spanish: brujería — magical incantation
• Spanish: conjuración — magical incantation
• Spanish: ensalmo — magical incantation
• Spanish: payé — magical incantation
• Spanish: gualicho — magical incantation
• Swedish: trollformel — magical incantation
• Swedish: besvärjelse — magical incantation
• Tagalog: tawal — magical incantation
• Tauya: uniyamo — magical incantation
• Tibetan: མཐུ་སྔགས (mthu sngags) — magical incantation
• Tibetan: ངན་སྔགས (ngan sngags) — magical incantation
• Tocharian B: näsait — magical incantation
• Turkish: büyü — magical incantation
• Turkish: tılsım — magical incantation
• Ukrainian: заклина́ння (zaklynánnja) — magical incantation
• Ukrainian: закля́ття (zakljáttja) — magical incantation
• Urdu: منتر (mantar) — magical incantation
• Urdu: جادو (jādū) — magical incantation
• Urdu: سحر (saihir) — magical incantation
• Urdu: ٹونا (tōnā) — magical incantation
• Urdu: ٹوٹکا (ṭōṭkā) — magical incantation
• Vietnamese: thần chú — magical incantation
• Welsh: swyn — magical incantation
• Bulgarian: обаяние (obajanie) — magical effect of such incantation
• Catalan: encís — magical effect of such incantation
• Catalan: conjur — magical effect of such incantation
• Catalan: embruixament — magical effect of such incantation
• Catalan: encantament — magical effect of such incantation
• Czech: kouzlo — magical effect of such incantation
• Dutch: betovering — magical effect of such incantation
• Egyptian: H-kA:Y1 (ḥkꜣ) — magical effect of such incantation
• Finnish: lumous — magical effect of such incantation
• Finnish: kirous — magical effect of such incantation
• French: charme — magical effect of such incantation
• French: maléfice — magical effect of such incantation
• French: sort — magical effect of such incantation
• German: Zauber — magical effect of such incantation
• Hungarian: varázs — magical effect of such incantation
• Hungarian: varázslat — magical effect of such incantation
• Hungarian: bűbáj — magical effect of such incantation
• Icelandic: álög — magical effect of such incantation
• Interlingua: incantamento — magical effect of such incantation
• Irish: briocht draíochta — magical effect of such incantation
• Irish: draíocht — magical effect of such incantation
• Irish: geis — magical effect of such incantation
• Italian: fattura — magical effect of such incantation
• Italian: maleficio — magical effect of such incantation
• Latin: veneficium — magical effect of such incantation
• Latin: incantamentum — magical effect of such incantation
• Latin: fascinum — magical effect of such incantation
• Latin: fascinatio — magical effect of such incantation
• Latin: effascinatio — magical effect of such incantation
• Latin: cantio — magical effect of such incantation
• Latin: cantamen — magical effect of such incantation
• Latvian: burvestība — magical effect of such incantation
• Norman: charme — magical effect of such incantation
• Polish: czar — magical effect of such incantation
• Polish: urok — magical effect of such incantation
• Portuguese: encanto — magical effect of such incantation
• Portuguese: encantamento — magical effect of such incantation
• Portuguese: feitiço — magical effect of such incantation
• Romanian: farmec — magical effect of such incantation
• Slovene: urok — magical effect of such incantation
• Spanish: encantamiento — magical effect of such incantation
• Spanish: hechizo — magical effect of such incantation
• Spanish: encanto — magical effect of such incantation
• Spanish: conjuración — magical effect of such incantation
• Swedish: trollformel — magical effect of such incantation
• Swedish: besvärjelse — magical effect of such incantation
• Tibetan: རྨོངས་བྱེད (rmongs byed) — magical effect of such incantation
• Tibetan: ངན་སྔགས (ngan sngags) — magical effect of such incantation
• Tocharian B: näsait — magical effect of such incantation
• Ukrainian: ча́ри (čáry) — magical effect of such incantation
• Ukrainian: закля́ття (zakljáttja) — magical effect of such incantation
• Bulgarian: кратко време (kratko vreme) — indefinite period of time
• Chinese Mandarin: 陣 /阵 (zhèn) — indefinite period of time
• Finnish: jakso — indefinite period of time
• French: moment — indefinite period of time
• French: épisode — indefinite period of time
• German: kurze Periode — indefinite period of time
• German: Weile — indefinite period of time
• German: Weilchen — indefinite period of time
• German: Zeitdauer — indefinite period of time
• Greek: περίοδος (períodos) — indefinite period of time
• Interlingua: breve periodo — indefinite period of time
• Interlingua: intervallo — indefinite period of time
• Irish: tamall — indefinite period of time
• Irish: scaitheamh — indefinite period of time
• Irish: seal — indefinite period of time
• Korean: 한참 (hancham) — indefinite period of time
• Korean: 한동안 (handong'an) — indefinite period of time
• Latvian: īss laika sprīdis — indefinite period of time
• Māori: tūāmoe — indefinite period of time
• Polish: krótki okres — indefinite period of time
• Portuguese: breve período — indefinite period of time
• Portuguese: intervalo — indefinite period of time
• Romanian: interval — indefinite period of time
• Russian: пери́од (períod) — indefinite period of time
• Russian: вре́мя (vrémja) — indefinite period of time
• Russian: интерва́л (intɛrvál) — indefinite period of time
• Russian: промежу́ток вре́мени (promežútok vrémeni) — indefinite period of time
• Scottish Gaelic: ùine — indefinite period of time
• Scottish Gaelic: spealag — indefinite period of time
• Spanish: rato — indefinite period of time
• Spanish: período — indefinite period of time
• Welsh: sbel — indefinite period of time
• Finnish: purkaus — period of illness, outburst of bad spirits
• Irish: rith tinnis — period of illness, outburst of bad spirits
• Polish: choroba — period of illness, outburst of bad spirits
• Spanish: berrinche — period of illness, outburst of bad spirits
• Spanish: pataleta — period of illness, outburst of bad spirits
• Bulgarian: омагьосван (omagjosvan) — put under the influence of a spell
• Czech: začarovat — put under the influence of a spell
• German: verzaubern — put under the influence of a spell
• Hungarian: elvarázsol — put under the influence of a spell
• Polish: zaczarowywać — put under the influence of a spell
• Polish: zaczarować — put under the influence of a spell
• Spanish: encantar — put under the influence of a spell
• Tibetan: མཐུ་འདེབས — put under the influence of a spell
• Tibetan: རྨོངས་སུ་འཇུག (rmongs su 'jug) — put under the influence of a spell
• Arabic: هَجَّى (hajjā) — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Arabic: تَهَجَّى (tahajjā) — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Armenian: հեգել (hegel) — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Asturian: solletriar — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Asturian: delletriar — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Basque: letreiatu — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Catalan: lletrejar — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Chinese Cantonese: 串 (cyun3) — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Chinese Mandarin: 拼 (pīn) — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Chinese Mandarin: 拼寫 /拼写 (pīnxiě) — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Chinese Mandarin: 拼字 (pīnzì) — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Czech: hláskovat — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Danish: stave — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Dutch: spellen — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Esperanto: literumi — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Faroese: stavseta — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Finnish: tavata — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Finnish: kirjoittaa — to write or say the letters that form a word
• French: épeler — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Georgian: დამარცვლით კითხვა (damarcvlit ḳitxva) — to write or say the letters that form a word
• German: schreiben — to write or say the letters that form a word
• German: buchstabieren — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Greek: γράφω ορθογραφημένα (gráfo orthografiména) — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Greek: συλλαβίζω (syllavízo) — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Hawaiian: pela — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Hebrew: איית (iyét) — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Hungarian: betűz — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Icelandic: stafa — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Icelandic: stafsetja — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Ido: espelar — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Indonesian: mengeja — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Interlingua: orthographiar — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Irish: litrigh — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Italian: scandire — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Italian: sillabare — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Italian: compitare — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Italian: scrivere — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Japanese: 綴る (tsuzuru) — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Korean: 철자하다 (cheoljahada) — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Latvian: uzrakstīt — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Latvian: izrunāt — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Malay: mengeja — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Māori: tātaki — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Māori: takikupu — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Māori: tātaki kupu — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Norwegian Bokmål: stave — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Norwegian Nynorsk: stava — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Old English: areccan bocstafas — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Persian: هجی کردن — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Persian: املاء کردن — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Polish: literować — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Polish: przeliterowywać — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Polish: przeliterować — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Portuguese: soletrar — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Romanian: litera — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Romanian: rosti — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Russian: произноси́ть по бу́квам (proiznosítʹ po búkvam) — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Serbo-Croatian: sricati — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Slovene: črkovati — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Spanish: deletrear — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Spanish: espelear — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Spanish: espeletear — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Spanish: espeliar — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Swahili: endeleza — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Swedish: stava — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Thai: สะกด (sà-gòt) — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Turkish: kodlamak — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Turkish: hecelemek — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Walloon: speli — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Yiddish: אויסלייגן (oysleygn) — to write or say the letters that form a word
• Arabic: هَجَّى (hajjā) — to compose a word
• Arabic: تَهَجَّى (tahajjā) — to compose a word
• Armenian: բառ կազմել (baṙ kazmel) — to compose a word
• Catalan: lletrejar — to compose a word
• Chinese Mandarin: 拼 (pīn) — to compose a word
• Chinese Mandarin: 拼字 (pīnzǐ) — to compose a word
• Czech: tvořit — to compose a word
• Danish: stave — to compose a word
• Dutch: spellen — to compose a word
• Esperanto: literumi — to compose a word
• Estonian: veerima — to compose a word
• Finnish: muodostaa — to compose a word
• French: épeler — to compose a word
• Georgian: სიტყვების შედგენა (siṭq̇vebis šedgena) — to compose a word
• German: bilden — to compose a word
• German: ergeben — to compose a word
• Greek: γράφω ορθογραφημένα (gráfo orthografiména) — to compose a word
• Ancient Greek: ἐπιγράφω (epigráphō) — to compose a word
• Hawaiian: pela — to compose a word
• Hawaiian: hoʻokuʻi — to compose a word
• Hebrew: איית (iyét) — to compose a word
• Icelandic: stafa — to compose a word
• Interlingua: componer — to compose a word
• Irish: litrigh — to compose a word
• Italian: compitare — to compose a word
• Italian: fare lo spelling — to compose a word
• Italian: sillabare — to compose a word
• Japanese: 綴る (tsuzuru) — to compose a word
• Khmer: ប្រកប (prɑɑkɑɑp) — to compose a word
• Korean: 철자하다 (cheoljahada) — to compose a word
• Latin: conscribo — to compose a word
• Latvian: nosaukt pa burtiem — to compose a word
• Malay: mengeja — to compose a word
• Māori: tātaki — to compose a word
• Mongolian: үсэглэх (üseglex) — to compose a word
• Norwegian: stave — to compose a word
• Polish: oznaczać — to compose a word
• Portuguese: soletrar — to compose a word
• Romanian: se scrie — to compose a word
• Russian: писа́ть по бу́квам (pisátʹ po búkvam) — to compose a word
• Scottish Gaelic: litrich — to compose a word
• Serbo-Croatian: pisati — to compose a word
• Spanish: deletrear — to compose a word
• Spanish: espelear — to compose a word
• Spanish: espeletear — to compose a word
• Spanish: espeliar — to compose a word
• Swedish: stava — to compose a word
• Thai: สะกด (sà-gòt) — to compose a word
• Tibetan: དག་ཆ་བྲིས (dag cha bris) — to compose a word
• Vietnamese: đánh vần — to compose a word
• Welsh: sillafu — to compose a word
• Dutch: betekenen — to indicate that some future event will occur
• Finnish: tietää — to indicate that some future event will occur
• Finnish: merkitä — to indicate that some future event will occur
• German: bedeuten — to indicate that some future event will occur
• German: vorhersagen — to indicate that some future event will occur
• Greek: συνεπάγομαι (synepágomai) — to indicate that some future event will occur
• Interlingua: indicar — to indicate that some future event will occur
• Italian: presagire — to indicate that some future event will occur
• Italian: vaticinare — to indicate that some future event will occur
• Korean: 의미하다 (uimihada) — to indicate that some future event will occur
• Polish: oznaczać — to indicate that some future event will occur
• Portuguese: prever — to indicate that some future event will occur
• Portuguese: pressagiar — to indicate that some future event will occur
• Portuguese: vaticinar — to indicate that some future event will occur
• Romanian: indica — to indicate that some future event will occur
• Spanish: anunciar — to indicate that some future event will occur
• Spanish: presagiar — to indicate that some future event will occur
• Swedish: betyda — to indicate that some future event will occur
• Finnish: selventää — figuratively, to clarify
• Finnish: vääntää rautalangasta — figuratively, to clarify
• German: klarmachen — figuratively, to clarify
• German: entziffern — figuratively, to clarify
• German: auf gut Deutsch gesagt — figuratively, to clarify
• Polish: literować — figuratively, to clarify
• Polish: przeliterowywać — figuratively, to clarify
• Polish: przeliterować — figuratively, to clarify
• Romanian: clarifica — figuratively, to clarify
• Spanish: descifrar — figuratively, to clarify
• Spanish: aclarar — figuratively, to clarify
• Bulgarian: замествам (zamestvam) — to work in place of someone
• Dutch: invallen voor — to work in place of someone
• Finnish: olla sijaisena — to work in place of someone
• Finnish: korvata — to work in place of someone
• Finnish: tuurata — to work in place of someone
• German: abwechseln — to work in place of someone
• German: vertreten — to work in place of someone
• Interlingua: relevar — to work in place of someone
• Italian: rimpiazzare — to work in place of someone
• Italian: sostituire — to work in place of someone
• Italian: dare il cambio — to work in place of someone
• Italian: rilevare — to work in place of someone
• Latvian: aizvietot — to work in place of someone
• Latvian: nomainīt — to work in place of someone
• Māori: whakakapi — to work in place of someone
• Polish: zastępować — to work in place of someone
• Polish: zastąpić — to work in place of someone
• Portuguese: render — to work in place of someone
• Romanian: înlocui — to work in place of someone
• Spanish: reemplazar — to work in place of someone
• Bulgarian: давам почивка (davam počivka) — To give somebody or something rest
• Finnish: lepuuttaa — To give somebody or something rest
• Māori: whakaokioki — To give somebody or something rest
• Polish: dawać odpocząć — To give somebody or something rest
• Polish: dać odpocząć — To give somebody or something rest