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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

gel.

A semi-solid to almost solid colloid of a solid and a liquid, such as jelly, cheese or opal.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/d͡ʒɛl/[d͡ʒɛɫ]
  1. A semi-solid to almost solid colloid of a solid and a liquid, such as jelly, cheese or opal.

    countable · uncountable
  2. A semi-solid to almost solid colloid of a solid and a liquid, such as jelly, cheese or opal. A food preparation or dish in the form of a flavored gel.

    countable · uncountable
    apple gel
  3. Any gel intended for a particular cosmetic use, such as for styling the hair.

    countable · uncountable
  4. A film of flexible transparent plastic (such as acetate, celluloid, or cellophane) suitable for making superimpositions or diapositives (image to overlay on other images, especially for overhead projectors); a digital virtual equivalent of this.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gel- Latin gelū Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin gelāre Italian gelareder. Italian gelatinabor. French gélatinebor. English gelatinclip. English gel Coined by Thomas Graham in the mid 19th century as a clipping of gelatin, from French gélatine, from Italian gelatina, diminutive form of gelata (“iced”), from Latin gelata, past participle of gelo (“to freeze”), from gelu (“frost”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“cold”). For the meaning development compare with Russian сту́день (stúdenʹ, “aspic, jelly, gel”) related to студёный (studjónyj, “cold”).

verb/d͡ʒɛl/[d͡ʒɛɫ]
  1. To apply (cosmetic) gel to (the hair, etc).

    transitive
  2. To become a gel: to set up.

    intransitive
  3. To develop a rapport.

    intransitive
    He was a nice guy, and I got on OK with his friends, but the two of us never really gelled.
  4. To come together to form something; to cohere.

    figuratively · intransitive
    We put our ideas together and they eventually gelled into a saleable product.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gel- Latin gelū Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin gelāre Italian gelareder. Italian gelatinabor. French gélatinebor. English gelatinclip. English gel Coined by Thomas Graham in the mid 19th century as a clipping of gelatin, from French gélatine, from Italian gelatina, diminutive form of gelata (“iced”), from Latin gelata, past participle of gelo (“to freeze”), from gelu (“frost”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“cold”). For the meaning development compare with Russian сту́день (stúdenʹ, “aspic, jelly, gel”) related to студёный (studjónyj, “cold”).

noun/ɡɛl/
  1. A girl.

    UK · slang
Where this word comes from

Imitative of upper-class British pronunciation of girl.

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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.