awl

See also: AWL and -awl

English

Stitching awls

Etymology

From Middle English aul, alle, al, from Old English æl, from Proto-West Germanic *al, from Proto-Germanic *alaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ólos. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Äil (“awl”), Dutch aal (“awl”), German Low German Ahl (“awl”), German Ahle (“awl”), Icelandic alur (“awl”). Spelling was influenced by the Old English synonym awel, awul (“awl”), from Proto-West Germanic *ahwal, from Proto-Germanic *ahwalaz (“fork, hook”), of unknown origin. Doublet of elsen.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɔːl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɔl/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ɑl/
• Rhymes: -ɔːl
• Homophone: all

Noun

awl (plural awls)

1. A pointed instrument for piercing small holes, as in leather or wood; used by shoemakers, saddlers, cabinetmakers, etc. The blade is differently shaped and pointed for different uses, as in the brad awl, saddler's awl, shoemaker's awl, etc.
   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 149:

     He dressed himself in some old ragged clothes, and took a tame white bear, which he had, with him, as well as an awl, some pitch, and twine.

2. (entomology) Any of various hesperiid butterflies.

Derived terms

• awlbill
• awlet
• awl-fly
• awllike
• awlwort
• bradawl

 

Translations

pointed instrument

• Albanian: fëndyell (sq) n
• Arabic: مِخْرَز m (miḵraz)

  North Levantine Arabic: مسَلّة f (msalle)

• Armenian: հերյուն (hy) (heryun), բիզ (hy) (biz)
• Azerbaijani: biz (az)
• Bashkir: беҙ (beź)
• Belarusian: шы́ла n (šýla)
• Bengali: please add this translation if you can
• Bhojpuri: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: ши́ло (bg) n (šílo)
• Catalan: alena (ca) f
• Chechen: йу (ju)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 錐子 / 锥子 (zh) (zhuīzi)

• Czech: šídlo (cs) n
• Danish: syl c
• Daur: sheugw
• Dutch: els (nl) m, priem (nl)
• Esperanto: aleno
• Estonian: naaskel (et), pistel, ora, nõel (et)
• Even: хулгун (hulgun)
• Evenki: силгивӯн (silgiwūn)
• Faroese: sýl f, sýlur m
• Finnish: purasin
• French: alène (fr) f, alêne (fr) f
• Gagauz: biz
• Galician: subela (gl) f
• Georgian: სადგისი (ka) (sadgisi)
• German: Pfriem (de) m, Ahle (de) f
• Greek: σουβλί (el) n (souvlí)

  Ancient: ὄπεας n (ópeas), χήλευμα n (khḗleuma)

• Hebrew: מַרְצֵעַ (he) m (martzéa')
• Hungarian: ár (hu)
• Icelandic: alur (is) m
• Indonesian: alat pelubang
• Ingrian: naaskali
• Ingush: юв (juv)
• Irish: meana m
• Italian: punteruolo (it) m, lesina (it) f
• Japanese: 突きぎり (つきぎり, tsukigiri), 錐 (ja) (きり, kiri), 千枚通し (せんまいどうし, senmaidōshi)
• Karachay-Balkar: миз (miz)
• Khakas: піс (pìs)
• Korean: 송곳 (ko) (songgot)
• Kyrgyz: шибеге (ky) (şibege)
• Latgalian: eilyns m
• Latin: subula f
• Latvian: īlens m
• Lithuanian: yla (lt) f
• Macedonian: шило n (šilo)
• Magahi: 𑂮𑂴𑂄 (sūā), 𑂮𑂳𑂞𑂰𑂩𑂲 (sutārī)
• Maithili: सूआ (sūā), सूतारी (sūtārī)
• Maltese: (carpentry) timplor m; (shoemaking) xifa f
• Mangghuer: shubige
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: вӱрж (vürž)

  Western Mari: вуйжыр (vujžyr)

• Mongghul: shuuga
• Mongolian: шөвөг (šövög), шивүүр (mn) (šivüür)
• Nogai: биз (biz)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: syl (no) m

  Nynorsk: syl m

• Occitan: alzena (oc) f
• Old English: æl m or f
• Old High German: ala f
• Old Norse: alr m
• Ottoman Turkish: بیز (biz), مخرز (mihrez)
• Polish: szydło (pl) n
• Portuguese: furador m, sovela (pt) f
• Romagnol: puntiröl m
• Romanian: sulă (ro) f
• Russian: ши́ло (ru) n (šílo)
• Sanskrit: आरा (sa) f (ārā)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: шило n

  Roman: šilo (sh) n

• Slovak: šidlo n
• Slovene: šilo n
• Southern Altai: мис (mis)
• Spanish: lezna (es) f, lesna (es) f, alesna (es) f, punzón (es) m
• Sudovian: īla f
• Swahili: maharazi
• Swedish: syl (sv) c, pryl (sv) c
• Tagalog: punson, suligi, balibol, pambalibol
• Tatar: без (tt) (bez)
• Telugu: ఆరె (te) (āre)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: biz (tr)
• Tuvan: шигбей (şigbey)
• Udmurt: пежъян (pežjan)
• Ukrainian: ши́ло n (šýlo)
• Uzbek: bigiz (uz)
• Vietnamese: giùi (vi)
• Welsh: mynawyd m
• Yup'ik: ukicissuun

Further reading

• awl on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Law, WAL, WLA, Wal., law, lwa

Zou

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔl˧/

Adjective

awl

1. easy

References

• Lukram Himmat Singh (2013) A Descriptive Grammar of Zou, Canchipur: Manipur University, page 40