Etymology

gunnel

G2U1N1N1E1L1

Today it means: A small eel-shaped marine fish of the family Pholidae, especially Pholis gunnellus. Full definition →

Middle English gonnewalle
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The story

  1. Middle English · inherited fromgonnewalle
  2. English todaygunnel

From Middle English gonnewalle, itself from gonne (“gun”) + wale, as it used to support the ship's guns; equivalent to gun + wale.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishgonnewalle all →

gunwale

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.