Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

hell

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Remove ads
See also: he'll, Hell, and héll

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • enPR: hĕl, IPA(key): /hɛl/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Audio (UK):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛl

Etymology 1

From Middle English helle, from Old English hell, from Proto-West Germanic *hallju, from Proto-Germanic *haljō (“concealed place, netherworld”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover, conceal, save”).

Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hälle (“hell”), West Frisian hel (“hell”), Dutch hel (“hell”), German Low German Hell (“hell”), German Hölle (“hell”), Norwegian helvete (“hell”), Icelandic hel (“the abode of the dead, death”). Also related to the Hel of Germanic mythology. See also hele.

Proper noun

hell

  1. (in many religions, uncountable) A place of torment where some or all sinners are believed to go after death and evil spirits are believed to be.
    Antonym: heaven
    May you rot in hell!
Synonyms
Descendants
  • → Korean: 헬 (hel)
Translations

Noun

hell (countable and uncountable, plural hells)

  1. (countable, hyperbolic, figuratively) A place or situation of great suffering in life.
    My new boss is making my job a hell.
    I went through hell to get home today.
    callback hell; <table> hell; <div> hell (computer programming)
    • 1879, General William T. Sherman, commencement address at the Michigan Military Academy
      There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell.
    • 1986, “Disposable Heroes”, in Metallica (music), Master of Puppets:
      Why, am I dying? / Kill, have no fear / Lie, live off lying / Hell, hell is here
    • 2024 May 8, Damian Carrington, “‘Hopeless and broken’: why the world’s top climate scientists are in despair. World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target”, in The Guardian, UK:
      So how do the scientists cope with their work being ignored for decades, and living in a world their findings indicate is on a “highway to hell”?.
  2. (countable) A place for gambling.
  3. (figuratively) An extremely hot place.
    You don’t have a snowball's chance in hell.
  4. (sometimes vulgar) Used as an intensifier in phrases grammatically requiring a noun.
    • 1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 321:
      She's got her arms down to her side, defiant. But just for the hell of it, she leans into him, wraps her arms around his neck, puts her head on his shoulder, and hangs on tight.
    I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.
    What the hell is wrong with you?!
    He says he’s going home early? Like hell he is.
  5. (obsolete) A place into which a tailor throws shreds, or a printer discards broken type.
  6. In certain games of chase, a place to which those who are caught are carried for detention.
  7. (colloquial, usually with on) Something extremely painful or harmful (to)
    That steep staircase is hell on my knees.
Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Interjection

hell (colloquial, sometimes vulgar)

  1. Used to express discontent, unhappiness, or anger.
    Oh, hell! I got another parking ticket.
  2. (no longer productive) Used to emphasize.
    Hell yeah!
  3. Used to introduce an intensified statement following an understated one; nay; not only that, but.
    Do it, or, rest assured, there will be no more Middle Eastern crisis – hell, there will be no more Middle East!
Derived terms
Translations
See also

Adverb

hell (not comparable)

  1. (postpositional) Alternative form of the hell or like hell.
    • 1990, Mama's Family (television sitcom), "Look Who's Breathing" (season 6, episode 18)
      - Oh, aren't they sweet?
      - Sweet, hell. They look like Tweedledum and Tweedledumber.
    • 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section II, page 24:
      ‘[…] I know whether a boy is telling me the truth or not.’
      ‘Thank you, sir.’
      Did he hell. They never bloody did.
  2. (Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, sometimes vulgar) Very; used to emphasize strongly.
    Synonym: hella
    That was hell good!
    They're hell sexy.

Verb

hell (third-person singular simple present hells, present participle helling, simple past and past participle helled)

  1. To make hellish; to place (someone) in hell; to make (a place) into a hell. [from 17th c.]
  2. To hurry, rush. [from 19th c.]
    • 1929, William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury:
      I had already lost thirteen points, all because she had to come helling in there at twelve, worrying me about that letter.
  3. (intransitive) To move quickly and loudly; to raise hell as part of motion.
    He was helling down the road with his radio blaring.

Etymology 2

From German hellen (“to brighten, burnish”). Related to Dutch hel (“clear, bright”) and German hell (“clear, bright”).

Verb

hell (third-person singular simple present hells, present participle helling, simple past and past participle helled)

  1. (rare, metal-working) To add luster to; to burnish (silver or gold).
    • 1770, Godfrey Smith, The Laboratory: Or, School of Arts:
      To hell gold or gilt workː take two ounces of tartar, two ounces of sulfur.. and it will give it a fine luster.

Etymology 3

From Middle English hellen, from Old Norse hella (“to pour”), from Proto-Germanic *halþijaną (“to incline, tip; to pour out, empty”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to lean, incline”). Cognate with Icelandic hella (“to pour”), Norwegian helle (“to pour”), Swedish hälla (“to pour”). See also English hield.

Verb

hell (third-person singular simple present hells, present participle helling, simple past and past participle helled)

  1. (rare) To pour.
    • 18th century, Josiah Relph, The Harvest; or Bashful Shepherd
      Gosh, the sickle went into me handː Down hell'd the bluid.
Remove ads

Albanian

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *skōla, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kol- (“stake”); compare Lithuanian kuõlas, Polish kół, Ancient Greek σκύλος (skúlos).

Noun

hell m (plural heje, definite helli, definite plural hejet)

  1. skewer
  2. spear
  3. icicle
  4. (adverb) standing straight without moving

Cornish

Noun

hell

  1. aspirate mutation of kell

Estonian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *hellä. Cognate to Finnish hellä and Votic elle.

Adjective

hell (genitive hella, partitive hella, comparative hellem, superlative kõige hellem)

  1. tender, gentle

Declension

More information Declension of (ÕS type 22i/külm, length gradation), singular ...
Remove ads

German

FWOTD – 3 September 2014

Etymology

From Middle High German hel (“resounding, loud, shining, bright”), from Old High German hel (“resounding”), from Proto-Germanic *halliz (“resounding”), from Proto-Germanic *hellaną (“to resound, make a sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call, make noise”). Cognate with Dutch hel.

Pronunciation

Adjective

hell (strong nominative masculine singular heller, comparative heller, superlative am hellsten)

  1. clear, bright, light
    Antonym: dunkel
    • 1918, Elisabeth von Heyking, Die Orgelpfeifen, in: Zwei Erzählungen, Phillipp Reclam jun. Verlag, page 9:
      So dunkel und schauerlich die Gruft aussah, wenn man durch die blinden, bestaubten Scheibchen der kleinen Fenster hineinblickte, so hell und freundlich war oben die Kirche.
      Just as dark and eerie the crypt looked like, if one looked in it through the cloudy, dusted little panes of the small windows, as bright and friendly was the church above.

Declension

Positive forms of hell
More information number & gender, singular ...
Comparative forms of hell
More information number & gender, singular ...
Superlative forms of hell
More information number & gender, singular ...

Derived terms

Further reading

  • “hell” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • “hell” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • “hell” in Duden online
Remove ads

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Old High German hel, related to the verb hellan, from Proto-Germanic *hellaną (“to resound”). Cognate with German helle, Dutch hel.

Pronunciation

Adjective

hell (masculine hellen, neuter hellt, comparative méi hell, superlative am hellsten)

  1. clear, bright
  2. light, pale

Declension

More information singular, plural ...
Remove ads

Middle English

Proper noun

hell

  1. alternative form of helle

Noun

hell

  1. alternative form of helle

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Old Norse heill.

Noun

hell n (definite singular hellet, indefinite plural hell, definite plural hella or hellene)

  1. luck

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

hell

  1. imperative of helle

Further reading

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Ultimately from Old Norse heill.

Noun

hell n (definite singular hellet, indefinite plural hell, definite plural hella)

  1. luck

Etymology 2

From Old Norse heldr.

Adverb

hell

  1. (nonstandard or dialectal) alternative form of heller (“rather, either; neither”)
    • 1951, Olav H. Hauge, Din veg:
      Og ikkje vardar du vegen, du hell.
      Og vinden stryk ut ditt far i aude fjell.
      And you don't mark out the road either.
      And the wind wipes away your trail amid empty mountains.

Further reading

  • “hell” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
  • “heller”, in Norsk Ordbok: ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet, Oslo: Samlaget, 1950-2016
  • “helder” in Ivar Aasen (1873) Norsk Ordbog med dansk Forklaring

Old English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *hallju, from Proto-Germanic *haljō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover, hide, conceal”).

Compare German hell (“light”).

Pronunciation

Noun

hell f

  1. hell
    • Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church, 1uoting "Circumdederunt me gemitus"
      Dēaþes ġeōmerunga mē beēodon, and helle sārnyssa mē beēodon, and iċ on mīnre ġedrefednysse Drihten clypode, and hē of his hālgan temple mīne stemne ġehyrde.
      The moaning of death surrounded me, and the pains of hell surrounded me, and in my distress I called out to the Lord, and from his holy temple he heard my voice.

Declension

Strong ō-stem:

More information singular, plural ...

Derived terms

Descendants

Remove ads

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish heel, from Old Norse heill (“good omen, luck”, literally “whole, healthy”). Doublet of hel.

Interjection

hell

  1. (archaic) hail (exclamation or greeting)

Derived terms

References

Remove ads

Welsh

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Adjective

hell (not mutable)

  1. (neologism, literary) feminine singular of hyll
Usage notes

This is a rare term formed by analogy with cref, gwen etc. as feminine forms of cryf (“strong”), gwyn (“white”) etc., rather than inherited.

Quotations
  • 1918, Ellis Humphrey Evans (Hedd Wyn), translated by Gillian Clarke, Rhyfel [War]‎:
    […] O'i ôl mae dyn, yn deyrn a gwreng, / Yn codi ei awdurdod hell.
    […] Instead, man, king or peasantry, / Raises his gross authority.

Etymology 2

Noun

hell (not mutable)

  1. h-prothesized form of ell

Further reading

  • D. G. Lewis, N. Lewis, editors (2005–present), “hell”, in Gweiadur: the Welsh–English Dictionary, Gwerin
  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “hell”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads
Remove ads