pal

English Online Dictionary. What means pal‎? What does pal mean?

Translingual

Symbol

pal

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Middle Persian.

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Angloromani pal (“brother, friend”), from Romani phral (“brother”), from Sanskrit भ्रातृ (bhrātṛ, “brother”). Doublet of bhai, brother, frater, and friar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pæl/
• Rhymes: -æl
• Homophone: pow (some accents)

Noun

pal (plural pals)

1. (colloquial) A friend, buddy, mate, cobber; someone to hang around with.

2. (colloquial) An informal term of address, often used ironically in a hostile way.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:friend

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Afrikaans: pêl

Translations

Verb

pal (third-person singular simple present pals, present participle palling, simple past and past participle palled)

1. Synonym of pal around

Related terms

See also

• pal care

Anagrams

• ALP, APL, LPA, PLA, Pla, alp, lap

Angloromani

Alternative forms

• palla, pel, pral, prala, pralla, pulu

Etymology

Inherited from Romani phral. Cognate with English brother.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈpʰæl], [pʰæɫ]

Noun

pal

1. brother

2. friend

Derived terms

Descendants

• → English: pal
  • → Afrikaans: pêl

References

• “pal”, in Angloromani Dictionary‎^[5], The Manchester Romani Project, 2004-2006, page 25
• “pal”, in Angloromani Dictionary‎^[6], The Manchester Romani Project, 2004-2006, page 59

Asturian

Etymology

From a contraction of the preposition pa (“for”) + masculine singular article el (“the”).

Contraction

pal m

1. for the

Azerbaijani

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.).

Noun

pal (definite accusative palı, plural pallar)

1. the green husk of a young hazelnut

Declension

Further reading

• “pal” in Obastan.com.

Cahuilla

Etymology

From Proto-Uto-Aztecan *pa.

Noun

pál

1. water

References

• Katherine Siva Sauvel, Pamela Munro (1983) Chem'ivillu' (let's speak Cahuilla)

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Old Catalan pal, from Latin pālus (“stake, pole”), from Proto-Italic *pākslos, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-slos, from *peh₂ǵ-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈpal]
• Rhymes: -al

Noun

pal m (plural pals)

1. stake
2. pole
3. (field hockey or ice hockey) stick

   Synonym: estic

4. (heraldry) pale
5. (colloquial) bore, drag

   és un pal ― he's a drag

Related terms

See also

References

• “pal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “pal”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “pal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “pal” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Cupeño

Etymology

From Proto-Uto-Aztecan *pa. Cognate with Cahuilla pál, Luiseño paala, Tübatulabal bal, Northern Paiute paa, Comanche paa, Hopi paahu, Classical Nahuatl atl.

Noun

pál

1. water

References

• Jane H. Hill (2005) A Grammar of Cupeño

Cypriot Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic بَال (bāl).

Noun

pal m

1. (always with a pronominal suffix) mind, attention, memory

References

• Borg, Alexander (2004) A Comparative Glossary of Cypriot Maronite Arabic (Arabic–English) (Handbook of Oriental Studies; I.70), Leiden and Boston: Brill, page 169

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈpal]
• Rhymes: -al

Interjection

pal!

1. fire! (a signal to shoot)

Verb

pal

1. second-person singular imperative of pálit

Further reading

• “pal”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “pal”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle French pal, from Latin pālus. Cognate with paal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɑl/
• Rhymes: -ɑl

Noun

pal m (plural pallen, diminutive palletje n)

1. catch (mechanism which stops something from moving the wrong way)

Adverb

pal

1. firm, firmly
2. (with a preposition or adverb) right, immediately

Anagrams

• lap

French

Etymology

From Old French pal (12th c.), variant of pel, from Latin pālus (“stake, pole”). Doublet of pieu. The Trésor informatisé considers Old French pal a learned borrowing, but it might be a dialectal variant instead.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pal/

Noun

pal m (plural pals or (archaic) paux)

1. stake
2. pole
3. (heraldry) pale

Further reading

• “pal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Garo

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Postposition

pal

1. (follows genitive case -ni) because, on account of

Indonesian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈpal]
• Hyphenation: pal

Etymology 1

From Dutch paal (“pole”), from Middle Dutch pâel, from Old Dutch pāl, from Latin pālus. Semantic loan from Dutch mijlpaal (“milestone”).

Noun

pal

1. milestone, one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals, typically at the side of the road or in a median.

   Synonyms: batu, mil, tonggak

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Noun

pal

1. Nonstandard spelling of faal.

Further reading

• “pal” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [pal]

Participle

pal

1. second-person singular imperative of paliś

Northern Kurdish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɑːl/
• Rhymes: -al

Noun

pal ?

1. side

Occitan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pal/

Noun

pal m (plural pals)

1. post, pole, stake
2. (nautical) mast

Old English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pālus (“stake”), possibly through a Proto-West Germanic intermediate *pāl. Compare Old High German pfāl (German Pfahl), Old Dutch pāl (Dutch paal). Doublet of pǣl, from the variant Proto-West Germanic *pāli.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɑːl/

Noun

pāl m

1. stake

Declension

Strong a-stem:

Descendants

• Middle English: pole, pol, poll, pall, paal
  • English: pole
  • Scots: pale, pall
  • Yola: pulmere

Old Frisian

Etymology

Borrowed from either Old Dutch pāl or Old High German pāl, from Proto-West Germanic *pāl, from Latin pālus (“stake, prop”), from Proto-Italic *pākslos, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ- (“to attach”). Cognate to Old English pāl. Doublet of pēl.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpaːl/

Noun

pāl f

1. pole

Descendants

• North Frisian: pul
• West Frisian: peal, poal

References

• Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN

Pipil

Pronunciation

• (standard) IPA^(key): /pal/

Noun

-pal

1. of (genitive relation, also forms genitive pronouns)

2. for (benefactive relation)

Usage notes

• The relational noun -pal is part of a restricted group of relationals that can be used without a possessive marker when it accompanies an explicit complement, thus acting like a preposition:

Declension

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpal/
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: pal
• Homophones: Pal, PAL

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Middle High German pfāl, phāl, from Old High German pfāl, phāl, from Proto-West Germanic *pāl, *pāli, from Latin pālus, from Proto-Italic *pākslos, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-slos, from *peh₂ǵ-.

Noun

pal m inan (diminutive palik)

1. stake (piece of wood)
2. (construction) pile (for the support of a building)

   Hypernym: słup

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

Etymology 2

Imperative of palić.

Interjection

pal

1. (military) shoot!

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

pal

1. second-person singular imperative of palić

Further reading

• pal in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• pal in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French pâle.

Adjective

pal m or n (feminine singular pală, masculine plural pali, feminine and neuter plural pale)

1. pale

Declension

Southwestern Dinka

Noun

pal (plural paal)

1. knife

Spanish

Contraction

pal

1. (colloquial) contraction of para (“for”) + el (“the”)

Related terms

Further reading

• “pal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Volapük

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [pal]

Noun

pal (nominative plural pals)

1. parent, father or mother

   Hyponyms: fat, hipal, jipal, mot

Declension

Derived terms

See also