different between weal vs feal

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: w?l, IPA^(key): /wi?l/
• Rhymes: -i?l
• Homophone: we'll; wheal, wheel (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English wele, from Old English wela (“wellness, welfare, prosperity, riches, well-being, wealth”), from Proto-Germanic *walô (“well-being, wellness, weal”). Cognate with German Wohl, Danish vel, Swedish väl.

Noun

weal (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Wealth, riches. [10th-19th c.]
2. (literary) Welfare, prosperity. [from 10th c.]
3. (by extension) Boon, benefit.
   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 557:

     And indeed I blamed myself and sore repented me of having taken compassion on him and continued in this condition, suffering fatigue not to be described, till I said to myself, "I wrought him a weal and he requited me with my ill; by Allah, never more will I do any man a service so long as I live!"

4. Specifically, the general happiness of a community, country etc. (often with qualifying word). [from 15th c.]
   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, page 372:

     Louis could aim to restyle himself the first among citizens, viewing virtuous attachment to the public weal as his most important kingly duty.

Derived terms

• commonweal
• wealful
• wealsman
• wealth

Related terms

• in weal or woe

Translations

Etymology 2

See wale.

Noun

weal (plural weals)

1. A raised, longitudinal wound, usually purple, on the surface of flesh caused by a stroke of a rod or whip; a welt.

   Synonym: wheal

   • 1958, T. H. White, The Once and Future King, London: Collins, 1959, Chapter 16,^[1]

     He had been slashed sixteen times by mighty boars, and his legs had white weals of shiny flesh that stretched right up to his ribs.

   • 2007, Tan Twan Eng, The Gift of Rain, New York: Weinstein Books, Book Two, Chapter Twenty-One, p. 422,^[2]

     And I saw the green island in the immense sea, the borders of the sea curling with a lining of light, like a vast piece of rice paper, its edges alive with weals of red embers, ready to burst into flame.

Translations

Verb

weal (third-person singular simple present weals, present participle wealing, simple past and past participle wealed)

1. To mark with stripes; to wale.

Anagrams

• alew, e-law, lawe, wale

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fi?l/
• Rhymes: -i?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English fele, fæle (“proper, of the right sort”), from Old English f?le (“faithful, trusty, good; dear, beloved”), from Proto-Germanic *failijaz (“true, friendly, familiar, good”), from Proto-Indo-European *pey- (“to adore”). Cognate with Scots feel, feelie (“cosy, neat, clean, comfortable”), West Frisian feilich (“safe”), Dutch veil (“for-sale”), Dutch veilig (“safe”), German feil (“for-sale”), Latin p?us (“good, dutiful, faithful, devout, pious”).

Alternative forms

• feil, feel, feele, fiel

Adjective

feal (comparative fealer or more feal, superlative fealest or most feal)

1. (Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) (of things) Cosy; clean; neat.
2. (Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) (of persons) Comfortable; cosy; safe.
   • 1822, Allan Cunningham, "Death of the Laird Of Warlsworm", in Traditional Tales of the English and Scottish Peasantry, v. 2, p. 330:

     […] when I care na to accompany ye to the kirkyard hole mysel, and take my word for't, ye'Il lie saftest and fealest on the Buittle side of the kirk; […]

3. (Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Smooth; soft; downy; velvety.

Derived terms

• fealy, feely

Adverb

feal (comparative fealer or more feal, superlative fealest or most feal)

1. In a feal manner.

Etymology 2

From Middle English felen, from Old Norse fela (“to hide”), from Proto-Germanic *felhan? (“to conceal, hide, bury, trust, intrude”), from Proto-Indo-European *pele(w)-, *pl?(w)- (“to hide”). Cognate with Old High German felahan (“to pass, trust, sow”), Old English f?olan (“to cleave, enter, penetrate”).

Verb

feal (third-person singular simple present feals, present participle fealing, simple past and past participle fealed)

1. (transitive, dialectal) To hide.

Etymology 3

From Middle English felen (“to come at (one's enemies), advance”), from Old English f?olan (“to cleave, enter, penetrate”), from Proto-Germanic *felhan?.

Verb

feal (third-person singular simple present feals, present participle fealing, simple past fale or fealed, past participle folen or fealed)

1. (obsolete) To press on, advance.
   • 1338, Robert Mannyng, Mannyng's Chronicle

     Durst none of them further feal.

References

• The Middle English Dictionary

Etymology 4

Inherited from an unattested Middle English word, borrowed from Old French feal, collateral form of feeil, from Latin fidelis.

Adjective

feal (comparative fealer or more feal, superlative fealest or most feal)

1. (archaic) faithful, loyal

Derived terms

• fealty

Etymology 5

Unknown; see fail.

Noun

feal (plural feals)

1. Alternative form of fail (“piece of turf cut from grassland”)

Anagrams

• Lafe, Leaf, alef, flea, leaf

Galician

Alternative forms

• fial

Etymology

From feo (“hay”) +? -al, suffix which forms place names. From Latin f?num (“hay”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fe?al/

Noun

feal m (plural feais)

1. hayfield

References

• “feal” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006-2013.
• “feal” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “feal” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.