different between fell vs pell

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?l/
• Rhymes: -?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English fellen, from Old English fellan, fiellan (“to cause to fall, strike down, fell, cut down, throw down, defeat, destroy, kill, tumble, cause to stumble”), from Proto-Germanic *fallijan? (“to fell, to cause to fall”), causative of Proto-Germanic *fallan? (“to fall”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)p?l- (“to fall”). Cognate with Dutch vellen (“to fell, cut down”), German fällen (“to fell”), Norwegian felle (“to fell”).

Verb

fell (third-person singular simple present fells, present participle felling, simple past and past participle felled)

1. (transitive) To make something fall; especially to chop down a tree.
2. (transitive) To strike down, kill, destroy.
   • 2016 January 17, "What Weiner Reveals About Huma Abedin," Vanity Fair (retrieved 21 January 2016):

     This Sunday marks the debut of Weiner, a documentary that follows former congressman Anthony Weiner in his attempt to overcome a sexting scandal and run for mayor of New York City—only to be felled, somewhat inexplicably, by another sexting scandal.
3. (sewing) To stitch down a protruding flap of fabric, as a seam allowance, or pleat.
   • 2006, Colette Wolff, The Art of Manipulating Fabric, page 296:

     To fell seam allowances, catch the lining underneath before emerging 1/4" (6mm) ahead, and 1/8" (3mm) to 1/4" (6mm) into the seam allowance.

Translations

Noun

fell (plural fells)

1. A cutting-down of timber.
2. The stitching down of a fold of cloth; specifically, the portion of a kilt, from the waist to the seat, where the pleats are stitched down.
3. (textiles) The end of a web, formed by the last thread of the weft.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English fell, fel, vel, from Old English fel, fell (“hide, skin, pelt”), from Proto-Germanic *fell? (compare West Frisian fel, Dutch vel, German Fell), from Proto-Indo-European *pél-no- (“skin, animal hide”) (compare Latin pellis (“skin”), Lithuanian pl?n? (“skin”), Russian ?????? (plená, “pelt”), Albanian plah (“to cover”), Ancient Greek ?????? (péll?s, “skin”)). Related to film and pell.

Noun

fell (plural fells)

2. An animal skin, hide, pelt.
   • c. 1599 Shakespeare: As You Like It: Act 3 Sc.3 L. 35

     Why, we are still handling our ewes, and their fells, you know, are greasy.

3. Human skin (now only as a metaphorical use of previous sense).
   • c. 1390, William Langland, Piers Plowman, I:

     For he is fader of feith · fourmed ?ow alle / Bothe with fel and with face.

Translations

Etymology 3

From Old Norse fell, fjall (“rock, mountain”), compare Norwegian Bokmål fjell 'mountain', from Proto-Germanic *felz?, *fel(e)zaz, *falisaz (compare German Felsen 'boulder, cliff', Middle Low German vels 'hill, mountain'), from Proto-Indo-European *pelso; compare Irish aill (“boulder, cliff”), Ancient Greek ????? (pélla, “stone”), Pashto ????? (par??a, “rock, rocky ledge”), Sanskrit ????? (p????á, “stone”). Doublet of fjeld.

Noun

fell (plural fells)

1. (archaic outside Britain) A rocky ridge or chain of mountains.
   • 1937 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

     The dwarves of yore made mighty spells, / While hammers fell like ringing bells, / In places deep, where dark things sleep, / In hollow halls beneath the fells.

   • 1971 Catherine Cookson, The Dwelling Place

     She didn't know at first why she stepped off the road and climbed the bank on to the fells; it wasn't until she found herself skirting a disused quarry that she realised where she was making for, and when she reached the place she stood and gazed at it. It was a hollow within an outcrop of rock, not large enough to call a cave but deep enough to shelter eight people from the rain, and with room to spare.

2. (archaic outside Britain) A wild field or upland moor.
   • 1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion song 11 p. 174[5]:

     As over Holt and Heath, as thorough Frith and Fell;

Derived terms

• Low Fell

Translations

Etymology 4

From Middle English fel, fell (“strong, fierce, terrible, cruel, angry”), from Old English *fel, *felo, *fæle (“cruel, savage, fierce”) (only in compounds, wælfel (“bloodthirsty”), ealfelo (“evil, baleful”), ælfæle (“very dire”), etc.), from Proto-Germanic *faluz (“wicked, cruel, terrifying”), from Proto-Indo-European *pol- (“to pour, flow, swim, fly”). Cognate with Old Frisian fal (“cruel”), Middle Dutch fel (“wrathful, cruel, bad, base”), German Low German fell (“rash, swift”), Danish fæl (“disgusting, hideous, ghastly, grim”), Middle High German v?lant (“imp”). See felon.

Adjective

fell (comparative feller, superlative fellest)

1. Of a strong and cruel nature; eager and unsparing; grim; fierce; ruthless; savage.
   • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3, Act II scene vi^[6]:

     […] While we devise fell tortures for thy faults.

   • 1663, Hudibras, by Samuel Butler, part 1, canto 2

     And many a serpent of fell kind, / With wings before, and stings behind
2. (Britain dialectal, Scotland) Strong and fiery; biting; keen; sharp; pungent
3. (Britain dialectal, Scotland) Very large; huge.
4. (obsolete) Eager; earnest; intent.

   • I am so fell to my business.

Translations

Adverb

fell (comparative more fell, superlative most fell)

1. Sharply; fiercely.

Derived terms

• fellness

Etymology 5

Perhaps from Latin fel (“gall, poison, bitterness”), or more probably from the adjective above.

Noun

fell (uncountable)

1. (obsolete, rare) Anger; gall; melancholy.

Etymology 6

Noun

fell

1. (mining) The finer portions of ore, which go through the meshes when the ore is sorted by sifting.

Etymology 7

Verb

fell

1. simple past tense of fall
2. (now colloquial) past participle of fall

Further reading

• Fell (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Fell in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Albanian

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *spesla, metathesized form of *spelsa, from Proto-Indo-European *pels (“rock, boulder”), variant of *spel- (“to cleave, break”). Compare Latin hydronym Pelso, Latin Palatium, Pashto ????? (parša, “rock, rocky ledge”), Ancient Greek ????? (pélla, “stone”), German Felsen (“boulder, cliff”). Mostly dialectal, used in Gheg Albanian.

Adverb

fell

1. deep, shallow

Derived terms

• fellë

Related terms

• fyell

Icelandic

Etymology

Old Norse fjall (“mountain”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?tl/
• Rhymes: -?tl

Noun

fell n (genitive singular fells, nominative plural fell)

1. isolated hill, isolated mountain

Declension

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

fell

1. imperative of felle

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Verb

fell

1. present of falle

Etymology 2

Verb

fell

1. imperative of fella

Old English

Alternative forms

• fel

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *fell, whence also Old High German vel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fell/, [fe?]

Noun

fell n

1. fell
2. skin

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?l/
• Rhymes: -?l

Etymology 1

From Latin pellis (“animal skin, pelt”), from Proto-Indo-European *pel-ni-. Distantly related to fell and film.

Noun

pell (plural pells)

1. A fur or hide.
2. A lined cloak or its lining.
3. A roll of parchment; a record kept on parchment.
   • 1835, Frederick Devon (editor and translator), Issue Roll of Thomas de Brantingham, Bishop of Exeter, Lord High Treasurer of England, Containing Payments Made out of His Majesty?s Revenue in the 44th Year of King Edward III.: A.D. 1370, page xi,

     The clerk of the pell (whose office is in the Lord Treasurer?s gift) keepeth the Pells in parchment, called Pelles Receptæ, wherein every teller?s bill, with his name on it, is to be entred; and under every such bill when it is entred, recordatur to be written in open court, for a controlment to charge the teller with so much money as in the said bill is set downe.

     He also anciently kept another pell, called Pellis Exitus, wherein every dayes issuing of any the moneys paid into the receipt, was to be entered, and by whom and by what warrant, privy seale, or bill, it was paid.

4. (Sussex) A body of water somewhere between a pond and a lake in size.
5. An upright post, often padded and covered in hide, used to practice strikes with bladed weapons such as swords or glaives.

Derived terms

• clerk of the pells

Related terms

• pelt
• fell
• pelisse
• pellagra
• pellage
• pellicle
• peltry

Etymology 2

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

Verb

pell (third-person singular simple present pells, present participle pelling, simple past and past participle pelled)

1. To pelt; to knock about.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Holland to this entry?)

Breton

Etymology

Cognate with Welsh pell (“far”).

Adverb

pell

1. far

Catalan

Etymology

From Old Occitan, from Latin pellis, pellem, from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to cover, wrap; skin, hide; cloth”).

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?pe?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Noun

pell f (plural pells)

1. (anatomy) skin
2. pelt

Derived terms

• pellofa

Further reading

• “pell” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

German

Pronunciation

Verb

pell

1. singular imperative of pellen
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of pellen

Welsh

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *k?el-.

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /p??/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /pe??/, /p??/

Adjective

pell (feminine singular pell, plural pell, equative pelled, comparative pellach, superlative pellaf)

1. far, distant

Derived terms

• rheolydd pell

Mutation

References