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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

snail.

Any of very many animals (either hermaphroditic or nonhermaphroditic), of the class Gastropoda, having a coiled shell.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/sneɪl/[sn̥eɪ̯ɫ]

  1. Any of very many animals (either hermaphroditic or nonhermaphroditic), of the class Gastropoda, having a coiled shell.

  2. A slow person; a sluggard.

    broadly · informal

  3. A spiral cam, or a flat piece of metal of spirally curved outline, used for giving motion to, or changing the position of, another part, as the hammer tail of a striking clock.

  4. A tortoise or testudo; a movable roof or shed to protect besiegers.

    historical

  5. The pod of the snail clover.

  6. A locomotive with a prime mover but no traction motors, used to provide extra electrical power to another locomotive.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English snayl, snail, from the Old English sneġel, from Proto-Germanic *snagilaz. Cognate with Low German Snagel, Snâel, Snâl (“snail”), German Schnegel (“slug”). Compare also Old Norse snigill, from Proto-Germanic *snigilaz.

verb/sneɪl/[sn̥eɪ̯ɫ]

  1. To move or travel very slowly.

    The cars were snailing along the motorway during the rush hour.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English snayl, snail, from the Old English sneġel, from Proto-Germanic *snagilaz. Cognate with Low German Snagel, Snâel, Snâl (“snail”), German Schnegel (“slug”). Compare also Old Norse snigill, from Proto-Germanic *snigilaz.

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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.