ale

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ale"

Languages (41)

Translingual • English

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Afar • Ambonese Malay • Bambara • Basque • Buol • Czech • Dutch • Estonian • Finnish • French • Friulian • Haitian Creole • Italian • Kashubian • Latin • Lower Sorbian • Lule Sami • Lutuv • Mauritian Creole • Middle Dutch • Middle English • Northern Sami • Norwegian Nynorsk • Old Czech • Old English • Old Polish • Polish • Portuguese • Romanian • Serbo-Croatian • Silesian • Spanish • Swedish • Tagalog • Tarantino • Ternate • Upper Sorbian • West Makian • Yoruba

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Page categories

Translingual

Etymology

Clipping of English Aleut or Russian алеу́т (aleút).

Symbol

ale

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

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Aleut terms

English

This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes, then please add them!

English Wikipedia has an article on:

ale

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• eale (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English ale, from Old English ealu, ealo, from Proto-West Germanic *alu, from Proto-Germanic *alu (compare Dutch aal, Swedish öl), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂elut- (“beer”), or *h₂elu- (“bitter”). Compare Russian ол (ol), Lithuanian alùs, Armenian օղի (ōġi); compare also Latin alum (“comfrey”), alūta (“tawed leather”), Ancient Greek ἀλύδοιμος (alúdoimos, “bitter”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: āl, (UK, US) IPA^(key): /eɪl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪl

Noun

ale (countable and uncountable, plural ales)

1. (dated) A beer made without hops.
2. A beer produced by so-called warm fermentation and not pressurized.
3. A festival in English country places, so called from the liquor drunk.

Synonyms

• (liquor): beer (loosely), yill

Derived terms

• Adam's ale
• alebench
• ale-bench
• ale bench
• ale-blown
• ale-bush
• ale-conner
• aleconner
• ale conner
• alecy
• ale-draper
• ale-drapery
• ale gallon
• ale-hoof
• ale-house
• alekeep
• alekeeper
• ale-knight
• alelike
• alemonger
• ale pole
• ale-pole
• alepole
• ale post
• alepot
• aleshop
• ale silver
• ale stake
• ale-stake
• alestake
• ale-taster
• aletaster
• ale-washed
• ale-wife
• alewife
• aley
• alish
• audit ale
• bride-ale
• brown ale
• cakes and ale
• church-ale
• clerk-ale
• cockale
• cream ale
• double India pale ale
• English strong ale
• four-ale
• gill-ale
• ginger ale
• give ale
• heather ale
• imperial India pale ale
• India pale ale
• lamb-ale
• mild ale
• old ale
• pale ale
• pot ale
• potale
• real ale
• red ale
• scotale
• session ale
• small ale
• soul-ale
• Welsh ale
• yard of ale

Related terms

• alehouse
• bridal

Descendants

• → Dutch: ale
• → Finnish: ale
• → French: ale
• → German: Ale

Translations

beer produced by warm fermentation

Afrikaans: aal (af) Arabic: مِزْر m (mizr) Armenian: էլ (hy) (ēl) Belarusian: эль m (elʹ) Bulgarian: ейл m (ejl) Chinese: Cantonese: 麥芽啤酒 / 麦芽啤酒 (mak6 ngaa4 be1 zau2) Mandarin: 強麥酒 / 强麦酒 (qiángmàijiǔ), 麥芽啤酒 / 麦芽啤酒 (màiyá píjiǔ), 麥芽酒 / 麦芽酒 (màiyá jiǔ), 愛爾啤酒 / 爱尔啤酒 (ài'ěr píjiǔ), 艾爾啤酒 / 艾尔啤酒 (ài'ěr píjiǔ) Danish: lyst øl c Dutch: donker bier n Esperanto: elo (eo) Estonian: õlu (et) Faroese: øl Finnish: pintahiivaolut (fi), ale (fi) French: bière anglaise f, ale (fr) f German: Ale (de) n Greek: αγγλική μπίρα f (anglikí bíra), αγγλικός ζύθος m (anglikós zýthos), ζύθος (el) (zýthos), αγγλική μπύρα (anglikí býra) Hungarian: ale (hu) Icelandic: öl (is) n Irish: leann m Italian: birra inglese f Japanese: エール (ja) (ēru) Korean: 에일 (eil) Limburgish: ale (li) Lithuanian: elis Manx: lhune m Norwegian: ale (no), ale Old English: ealu, bēor Polish: ale (pl) n Portuguese: cerveja inglesa f Russian: эль (ru) m (elʹ) Scottish Gaelic: leann m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ел m Roman: el (sh) m Spanish: cerveza inglesa f, ale (es) f, cerveza ale f Swedish: ale (sv) Tamil: அளி (ta) (aḷi) Turkish: ale (tr), İngiliz birası Ukrainian: ель m (elʹ) Welsh: cwrw m Yiddish: ענגלישע ביר n (englishe bir)

Anagrams

• E-la, ael, Lae, LEA, Lea, LAE, lea, EAL, ELA, Ela

Afar

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈle/ [ʔʌˈlɛ]
• Hyphenation: a‧le

Interjection

alé

1. signifies surprise; wow!

References

• Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015), L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎, Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

Ambonese Malay

Pronoun

ale

1. thou

Bambara

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [àle]

Pronoun

ale

1. him

Basque

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

ale

1. grain

Declension

Declension of ale (inan V-stem)

	indefinite	singular	plural	proximal plural
absolutive	ale	alea	aleak	aleok
ergative	alek	aleak	aleek	aleok
dative	aleri	aleari	aleei	aleoi
genitive	aleren	alearen	aleen	aleon
comitative	alerekin	alearekin	aleekin	aleokin
causative	alerengatik	alearengatik	aleengatik	aleongatik
benefactive	alerentzat	alearentzat	aleentzat	aleontzat
instrumental	alez	aleaz	aleez	aleotaz
innesive	aletan	alean	aleetan	aleotan
locative	aletako	aleko	aleetako	aleotako
allative	aletara	alera	aleetara	aleotara
terminative	aletaraino	aleraino	aleetaraino	aleotaraino
directive	aletarantz	alerantz	aleetarantz	aleotarantz
destinative	aletarako	alerako	aleetarako	aleotarako
ablative	aletatik	aletik	aleetatik	aleotatik
partitive	alerik	—	—	—
prolative	aletzat	—	—	—

Buol

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *qazay.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [aɽe]

Noun

ale

1. chin

Czech

Etymology

Inherited from Old Czech ale, from Proto-Slavic *ale.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈalɛ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -alɛ

Conjunction

ale

1. but

   Synonym: avšak

See also

• jenže

Further reading

• “ale”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “ale”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “ale”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English ale.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eːl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ale
• Rhymes: -eːl

Noun

ale m or n (uncountable, no diminutive)

1. ale

Estonian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *halmëh. Cognate to Finnish halme and Livvi halmeh. From either Proto-Germanic *halmaz or a Baltic language, compare Latvian salms and Lithuanian želmuo.

Noun

ale (genitive ale, partitive alet)

1. slash-and-burn (the technique)
2. the forest cut down to create new land in slash-and-burn
3. the land created through slash-and-burn

Declension

Declension of ale (ÕS type 16/pere, no gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		ale	aled
accusative	nom.
	gen.	ale
genitive			alede
partitive		alet	alesid
illative		alle alesse	aledesse
inessive		ales	aledes
elative		alest	aledest
allative		alele	aledele
adessive		alel	aledel
ablative		alelt	aledelt
translative		aleks	aledeks
terminative		aleni	aledeni
essive		alena	aledena
abessive		aleta	aledeta
comitative		alega	aledega

Finnish

Etymology 1

Clipping of alennusmyynti (“sale”). Coined by Aarni Penttilä.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑle/, [ˈɑ̝le̞]
• Rhymes: -ɑle
• Syllabification^(key): a‧le
• Hyphenation^(key): ale

Noun

ale (informal)

1. sale (selling of goods at bargain prices)

Declension

Inflection of ale (Kotus type 8/nalle, no gradation)
nominative		ale	alet
genitive		alen	alejen
partitive		alea	aleja
illative		aleen	aleihin
		singular	plural
nominative		ale	alet
accusative	nom.	ale	alet
	gen.	alen
genitive		alen	alejen alein rare
partitive		alea	aleja
inessive		alessa	aleissa
elative		alesta	aleista
illative		aleen	aleihin
adessive		alella	aleilla
ablative		alelta	aleilta
allative		alelle	aleille
essive		alena	aleina
translative		aleksi	aleiksi
abessive		aletta	aleitta
instructive		—	alein
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of ale (Kotus type 8/nalle, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative aleni aleni accusative nom. aleni aleni gen. aleni genitive aleni alejeni aleini rare partitive aleani alejani inessive alessani aleissani elative alestani aleistani illative aleeni aleihini adessive alellani aleillani ablative aleltani aleiltani allative alelleni aleilleni essive alenani aleinani translative alekseni aleikseni abessive alettani aleittani instructive — — comitative — aleineni second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative alesi alesi accusative nom. alesi alesi gen. alesi genitive alesi alejesi aleisi rare partitive aleasi alejasi inessive alessasi aleissasi elative alestasi aleistasi illative aleesi aleihisi adessive alellasi aleillasi ablative aleltasi aleiltasi allative alellesi aleillesi essive alenasi aleinasi translative aleksesi aleiksesi abessive alettasi aleittasi instructive — — comitative — aleinesi first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative alemme alemme accusative nom. alemme alemme gen. alemme genitive alemme alejemme aleimme rare partitive aleamme alejamme inessive alessamme aleissamme elative alestamme aleistamme illative aleemme aleihimme adessive alellamme aleillamme ablative aleltamme aleiltamme allative alellemme aleillemme essive alenamme aleinamme translative aleksemme aleiksemme abessive alettamme aleittamme instructive — — comitative — aleinemme second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative alenne alenne accusative nom. alenne alenne gen. alenne genitive alenne alejenne aleinne rare partitive aleanne alejanne inessive alessanne aleissanne elative alestanne aleistanne illative aleenne aleihinne adessive alellanne aleillanne ablative aleltanne aleiltanne allative alellenne aleillenne essive alenanne aleinanne translative aleksenne aleiksenne abessive alettanne aleittanne instructive — — comitative — aleinenne third-person possessor singular plural nominative alensa alensa accusative nom. alensa alensa gen. alensa genitive alensa alejensa aleinsa rare partitive aleaan aleansa alejaan alejansa inessive alessaan alessansa aleissaan aleissansa elative alestaan alestansa aleistaan aleistansa illative aleensa aleihinsa adessive alellaan alellansa aleillaan aleillansa ablative aleltaan aleltansa aleiltaan aleiltansa allative alelleen alellensa aleilleen aleillensa essive alenaan alenansa aleinaan aleinansa translative alekseen aleksensa aleikseen aleiksensa abessive alettaan alettansa aleittaan aleittansa instructive — — comitative — aleineen aleinensa

Derived terms

compounds

• alehalli
• alehinta
• alelaari
• veroale

Further reading

• “1. ale”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 1 July 2023

Etymology 2

From English ale.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈei̯l/, [ˈe̞i̯l]
• Rhymes: -eil
• Syllabification^(key): ale
• Hyphenation^(key): ale

Noun

ale

1. ale (type of beer)

Declension

Inflection of ale (Kotus type 8/nalle, no gradation)
nominative		ale	alet
genitive		alen	alejen
partitive		alea	aleja
illative		aleen	aleihin
		singular	plural
nominative		ale	alet
accusative	nom.	ale	alet
	gen.	alen
genitive		alen	alejen alein rare
partitive		alea	aleja
inessive		alessa	aleissa
elative		alesta	aleista
illative		aleen	aleihin
adessive		alella	aleilla
ablative		alelta	aleilta
allative		alelle	aleille
essive		alena	aleina
translative		aleksi	aleiksi
abessive		aletta	aleitta
instructive		—	alein
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of ale (Kotus type 8/nalle, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative aleni aleni accusative nom. aleni aleni gen. aleni genitive aleni alejeni aleini rare partitive aleani alejani inessive alessani aleissani elative alestani aleistani illative aleeni aleihini adessive alellani aleillani ablative aleltani aleiltani allative alelleni aleilleni essive alenani aleinani translative alekseni aleikseni abessive alettani aleittani instructive — — comitative — aleineni second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative alesi alesi accusative nom. alesi alesi gen. alesi genitive alesi alejesi aleisi rare partitive aleasi alejasi inessive alessasi aleissasi elative alestasi aleistasi illative aleesi aleihisi adessive alellasi aleillasi ablative aleltasi aleiltasi allative alellesi aleillesi essive alenasi aleinasi translative aleksesi aleiksesi abessive alettasi aleittasi instructive — — comitative — aleinesi first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative alemme alemme accusative nom. alemme alemme gen. alemme genitive alemme alejemme aleimme rare partitive aleamme alejamme inessive alessamme aleissamme elative alestamme aleistamme illative aleemme aleihimme adessive alellamme aleillamme ablative aleltamme aleiltamme allative alellemme aleillemme essive alenamme aleinamme translative aleksemme aleiksemme abessive alettamme aleittamme instructive — — comitative — aleinemme second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative alenne alenne accusative nom. alenne alenne gen. alenne genitive alenne alejenne aleinne rare partitive aleanne alejanne inessive alessanne aleissanne elative alestanne aleistanne illative aleenne aleihinne adessive alellanne aleillanne ablative aleltanne aleiltanne allative alellenne aleillenne essive alenanne aleinanne translative aleksenne aleiksenne abessive alettanne aleittanne instructive — — comitative — aleinenne third-person possessor singular plural nominative alensa alensa accusative nom. alensa alensa gen. alensa genitive alensa alejensa aleinsa rare partitive aleaan aleansa alejaan alejansa inessive alessaan alessansa aleissaan aleissansa elative alestaan alestansa aleistaan aleistansa illative aleensa aleihinsa adessive alellaan alellansa aleillaan aleillansa ablative aleltaan aleltansa aleiltaan aleiltansa allative alelleen alellensa aleilleen aleillensa essive alenaan alenansa aleinaan aleinansa translative alekseen aleksensa aleikseen aleiksensa abessive alettaan alettansa aleittaan aleittansa instructive — — comitative — aleineen aleinensa

In speech, type 5 (risti) is normally used, giving for instance nominative singular eil, genitive eilin, partitive eiliä, nominative plural eilit and genitive plural eilien.

Further reading

• “2. ale”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 1 July 2023

Anagrams

• Lea

French

Etymology

From English ale.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛl/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

ale f (plural ales)

1. ale
   • 1884, Joris-Karl Huysmans, chapter XI, in À rebours [Against the Grain]:

     […] il mangea un rosbif aux pommes et s'enfourna deux pintes d’ale, excité par ce petit goût de vacherie musquée que dégage cette fine et pâle bière.

     He ate roast beef with apples and put away two pints of ale, excited by the little taste of musky trickery given off by this fine, pale beer.

Further reading

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

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin āla.

Noun

ale f (plural alis)

1. wing

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French aller (“go”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.le/

Verb

ale

1. to go

   Synonym: al

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈa.le/
• Rhymes: -ale
• Hyphenation: à‧le

Noun

ale f

1. (poetic) plural of ala: wings

See also

• ali

Kashubian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Slavic *a

Proto-Slavic *le

univ.

Proto-Slavic *ale

Kashubian ale

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *ale.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈa.lɛ/
• Rhymes: -alɛ
• Syllabification: a‧le

Conjunction

ale

1. but

Noun

ale n (indeclinable)

1. (colloquial) but

Particle

ale

1. used at the beginning of a sentence; similar in meaning to the English "hey, not so fast", especially when used multiple times

Further reading

• Stefan Ramułt (1893), “ale”, in Słownik języka pomorskiego czyli kaszubskiego (in Kashubian), page 2
• Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011), “ale”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi‎, volume 1, page 19
• “ale”, in Internetowi Słowôrz Kaszëbsczégò Jãzëka [Internet Dictionary of the Kashubian Language], Fundacja Kaszuby, 2022

Latin

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈa.ɫɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈaː.le]

Verb

ale

1. second-person singular present active imperative of alō

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈaː.ɫɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈaː.le]

Noun

āle

1. vocative singular of ālus

Lower Sorbian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *ale.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈalɛ/, [ˈalə]

Conjunction

ale

1. but

Further reading

• Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928), “ale”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
• Starosta, Manfred (1999), “ale”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag

Lule Sami

Verb

ale

1. second-person singular imperative of ij

Lutuv

Noun

ale

1. elephant (Elephas maximus)

Mauritian Creole

Etymology

From French aller.

Verb

ale (medial form al)

1. To go

Middle Dutch

Etymology

from Old Dutch *alo, from Proto-West Germanic *alu.

Noun

āle n

1. ale

Inflection

Strong neuter noun

	singular	plural
nominative	āle	āle
accusative	āle	āle
genitive	āels	āle
dative	āle	ālen

Descendants

• Dutch: aal
• Limburgish: aal

Further reading

• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “ale”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

Middle English

Alternative forms

• ail

Etymology

From Old English ealu, from Proto-West Germanic *alu, from Proto-Germanic *alu, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂elut-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaːl(ə)/

Noun

ale (plural ales)

1. ale (beverage)

Related terms

• bridale

Descendants

• English: ale
• Geordie: yel
• Scots: yill, ale, aill, ayll
• ⇒ Yola: aalhouse

References

• “āle, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Northern Sami

Pronunciation

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈale/

Verb

ale

1. second-person singular imperative of ii

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

ale (present tense el or aler, past tense ol or alte, supine ale or alt, past participle alen or alt, present participle alande, imperative al)

1. alternative form of ala

Anagrams

• ela, lea