nail.
The horny plate or appendage at the ends of the digits of various animals, including most reptiles, birds, and mammals (both nonhuman and human).
Meaning & usage
The horny plate or appendage at the ends of the digits of various animals, including most reptiles, birds, and mammals (both nonhuman and human).
The horny plate or appendage at the ends of the digits of various animals, including most reptiles, birds, and mammals (both nonhuman and human). The thin, flat type of such a plate on the fingers and toes of humans, chimpanzees and some other primates.
When I'm nervous I bite my nails.
The basal thickened portion of the anterior wings of certain hemiptera.
The terminal horny plate on the beak of ducks and other allied birds.
A spike-shaped metal fastener used for joining wood or similar materials. The nail is generally driven through two or more layers of material by means of impacts from a hammer or other device. It is then held in place by friction.
Yesterday my shirt got torn after I caught it on a nail.
A round pedestal on which merchants once carried out their business, such as the four nails outside The Exchange, Bristol.
An archaic English unit of length equivalent to ¹⁄₂₀ of an ell or ¹⁄₁₆ of a yard (2+¹⁄₄ inches or 5.715 cm).
Where this word comes from
From Middle English nail, nayl, Old English næġl, from Proto-West Germanic *nagl, from Proto-Germanic *naglaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃nogʰ- (“nail”). Cognates Compare North Frisian Nail (“nail”), Saterland Frisian Nail (“nail”), West Frisian neil, German and Low German Nagel, Dutch and Swedish nagel, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål negl, Norwegian Nynorsk nagl, Finnish naula (“nail”), Estonian nael (“nail”), (compare Irish ionga, Latin unguis, Albanian nyell (“ankle, hard part of a limb”), Lithuanian nagas, Russian нога́ (nogá, “foot, leg”), но́готь (nógotʹ, “nail”), Ancient Greek ὄνυξ (ónux), Persian ناخن (nâxon), Sanskrit नख (nakhá).
To fix (an object) to another object using a nail.
He nailed the placard to the post.
To drive a nail.
He used the ax head for nailing.
To stud or boss with nails, or as if with nails.
To catch.
To expose as a sham.
To accomplish (a task) completely and successfully.
I really nailed that test.
To hit (a target) effectively with some weapon.
Of a male, to engage in sexual intercourse with.
To spike, as a cannon.
To nail down: to make certain, or confirm.
To steal.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English naylen, from Old English næġlan.
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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.