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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

coil.

Something wound in the form of a helix or spiral.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/kɔɪl/Received-Pronunciation, US/koj(ə)l/British, Southern, Standard/koɪ(.ə)l/Australia, New-Zealand/kwaɪl/Appalachia, obsolete
  1. Something wound in the form of a helix or spiral.

    the sinuous coils of a snake
  2. Any intrauterine device for contraception (originally coil-shaped).

    colloquial
  3. A coil of electrically conductive wire through which electricity can flow.

  4. A cylinder of clay.

  5. Entanglement; perplexity.

    figuratively
Where this word comes from

From Middle English coilen, from Old French coillir, cuillir (“to gather, pluck, pick, cull”) (modern French cueillir), from Latin colligō (“to gather together”), past participle collectus, from com- (“together”) + legō (“to gather”); compare legend. Doublet of cull.

verb/kɔɪl/Received-Pronunciation, US/koj(ə)l/British, Southern, Standard/koɪ(.ə)l/Australia, New-Zealand/kwaɪl/Appalachia, obsolete
  1. To wind or reel e.g. a wire or rope into regular rings, often around a centerpiece.

    A simple transformer can be made by coiling two pieces of insulated copper wire around an iron heart.
  2. To wind into loops (roughly) around a common center.

    The sailor coiled the free end of the hawser on the pier.
  3. To wind cylindrically or spirally.

    to coil a rope when not in use
    The snake coiled itself before springing.
  4. To build a pot (etc) with clay coils.

  5. To encircle and hold with, or as if with, coils.

    obsolete · rare
Where this word comes from

From Middle English coilen, from Old French coillir, cuillir (“to gather, pluck, pick, cull”) (modern French cueillir), from Latin colligō (“to gather together”), past participle collectus, from com- (“together”) + legō (“to gather”); compare legend. Doublet of cull.

noun/kɔɪl/Received-Pronunciation, US/koj(ə)l/British, Southern, Standard/koɪ(.ə)l/Australia, New-Zealand/kwaɪl/Appalachia, obsolete
  1. A noise, tumult, bustle, or turmoil.

Where this word comes from

Unknown.

noun/kɔɪl/Received-Pronunciation, US/koj(ə)l/British, Southern, Standard/koɪ(.ə)l/Australia, New-Zealand/kwaɪl/Appalachia, obsolete
  1. A wad of cash.

    informal · slang
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.