eel.
Any freshwater fish of the order Anguilliformes, which are elongated and resemble snakes.
Meaning & usage
Any freshwater fish of the order Anguilliformes, which are elongated and resemble snakes.
A European eel (Anguilla anguilla).
Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape: Other ray-finned fishes: An electric eel (any knifefish of the genus Electrophorus)
Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape: Other ray-finned fishes: In the order Synbranchiformes: A swamp eel (any fish in the family Synbranchidae).
Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape: Other ray-finned fishes: In the order Synbranchiformes: An earthworm eel, also called the spineless eel (any fish in the family Chaudhuriidae).
Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape: Other ray-finned fishes: In the order Synbranchiformes: A spiny eel (any fish in the family Mastacembelidae).
Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape: Other ray-finned fishes: A deep-sea spiny eel (any fish in the family Notacanthidae).
Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape: Certain amphibians: A conger eel, also called the Congo eel, amphiuma, and Congo snake (any salamander of the genus Amphiuma).
Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape: Certain amphibians: A two-legged eel, also called the mud eel and lesser siren, Siren intermedia.
Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape: Certain amphibians: A leopard eel, also called the leopard siren and reticulated siren, Siren reticulata.
Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape: Certain amphibians: A rubber eel, Typhlonectes natans.
Various other animals that resemble true eels, chiefly in shape: A vinegar eel, a roundworm of species Turbatrix aceti.
Someone or something that is sneaky and/or hard to catch.
That Dennis is a right eel, he always seems to slip away from the scene at the right time.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English el (“eel”), from Old English ǣl (“eel”), from Proto-West Germanic *āl (“eel”), from Proto-Germanic *ēlaz (“eel”), which is of unknown origin. Cognates Cognate with West Frisian iel (“eel”), Dutch aal (“eel”), German Low German Aal, Ool (“eel”), German Aal (“eel”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish ål (“eel”), Faroese állur, álur (“eel”), Icelandic áll (“eel”).
To fish for eels.
To move with a sinuous motion like that of an eel.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English el (“eel”), from Old English ǣl (“eel”), from Proto-West Germanic *āl (“eel”), from Proto-Germanic *ēlaz (“eel”), which is of unknown origin. Cognates Cognate with West Frisian iel (“eel”), Dutch aal (“eel”), German Low German Aal, Ool (“eel”), German Aal (“eel”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish ål (“eel”), Faroese állur, álur (“eel”), Icelandic áll (“eel”).
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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.