ale

A1L1E1
UK, US/eɪl/

noun

A beer or beerlike drink produced by so-called warm fermentation and unpressurized.

Similar
yill
OriginMiddle English ale ← Old English ealu ← Proto-West Germanic *alu →
CommonScrabble 3
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Meanings

ale1

nounale (countable and uncountable, plural ales)

plural ales · alternative obsolete eale

  1. countableuncountableA beer or beerlike drink produced by so-called warm fermentation and unpressurized.

    Synonyms: yill

  2. countabledateduncountableA beer or beerlike drink made without hops.
  3. UKcountableobsoleteuncountableA rural festival where ale is drunk.

Ale2

proper nounAle (plural Ales)

plural Ales

  1. A surname.
  2. diminutiveDiminutive of Alejandra, from analogy with English Alison or Alexandra

ALE3

nounALE (uncountable)
  1. abbreviationinitialismuncountablebusinessInitialism of atomic layer etching.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA beer or beerlike drink produced by so-called warm fermentation and unpressurized.

Similar
yill
Also see
beer

Origin

ale · noun

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂elut-
  2. Proto-Germanic*alu
  3. Proto-West Germanic*alu
  4. Old Englishealu
  5. Middle Englishale
  6. Englishale

From Middle English ale, from Old English ealu, ealo, from Proto-West Germanic *alu, from Proto-Germanic *alu (compare Dutch aal, Icelandic and Swedish öl (“beer”), Danish, Faroese, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk øl (“beer”)), 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”).

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

Ale · proper noun

  1. Middle EnglishAle
  2. EnglishAle

* As a Spanish surname, from Ale, probably a shortening of Alejandro. * As an Italian surname, likely a variant of Aleo. * As an English surname, from Middle English Ale, shortened from several names such as Alice, Allison, etc. * Also as an English surname, variant of Hale. * As a Dutch surname, from the personal name Aal, also shortened from names such as Alewijn, Albert. * As a Nepali surname, from आले (āle). This surname is mostly found in Nepal. Compare Al.

More words from Middle English

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans aal
  • aalbeer produced by warm fermentation
Arabic مِزْر
  • مِزْر (mizr)beer produced by warm fermentation
Bulgarian ейл
  • ейл (ejl)beer produced by warm fermentation
Chinese Cantonese 麥芽啤酒 /麦芽啤酒
  • 麥芽啤酒 /麦芽啤酒 (mak⁶ ngaa⁴ be¹ zau²)beer produced by warm fermentation
Chinese Mandarin 強麥酒 /强麦酒, 麥芽啤酒 /麦芽啤酒
  • 強麥酒 /强麦酒 (qiángmàijiǔ)beer produced by warm fermentation
  • 麥芽啤酒 /麦芽啤酒 (màiyá píjiǔ)beer produced by warm fermentation
  • 麥芽酒 /麦芽酒 (màiyá jiǔ)beer produced by warm fermentation
  • 愛爾啤酒 /爱尔啤酒 (ài'ěr píjiǔ)beer produced by warm fermentation
  • 艾爾啤酒 /艾尔啤酒 (ài'ěr píjiǔ)beer produced by warm fermentation
Danish lyst øl
  • lyst ølbeer produced by warm fermentation
Dutch donker bier
  • donker bierbeer produced by warm fermentation
Esperanto elo
  • elobeer produced by warm fermentation
Estonian õlu
  • õlubeer produced by warm fermentation
Finnish pintahiivaolut, ale
  • pintahiivaolutbeer produced by warm fermentation
  • alebeer produced by warm fermentation
French bière anglaise, ale
  • bière anglaisebeer produced by warm fermentation
  • alebeer produced by warm fermentation
German Ale
  • Alebeer produced by warm fermentation
Greek αγγλική μπίρα, αγγλικός ζύθος
  • αγγλική μπίρα (anglikí bíra)beer produced by warm fermentation
  • αγγλικός ζύθος (anglikós zýthos)beer produced by warm fermentation
  • ζύθος (zýthos)beer produced by warm fermentation
  • αγγλική μπύρα (anglikí býra)beer produced by warm fermentation
Hungarian ale
  • alebeer produced by warm fermentation
Icelandic öl
  • ölbeer produced by warm fermentation
Irish leann
  • leannbeer produced by warm fermentation
Italian birra inglese
  • birra inglesebeer produced by warm fermentation
Japanese エール
  • エール (ēru)beer produced by warm fermentation
Korean 에일
  • 에일 (eil)beer produced by warm fermentation
Lithuanian elis
  • elisbeer produced by warm fermentation
Polish ale
  • alebeer produced by warm fermentation
Portuguese cerveja inglesa
  • cerveja inglesabeer produced by warm fermentation
Russian эль
  • эль (elʹ)beer produced by warm fermentation
Scottish Gaelic leann
  • leannbeer produced by warm fermentation
Spanish cerveza inglesa, ale
  • cerveza inglesabeer produced by warm fermentation
  • alebeer produced by warm fermentation
  • cerveza alebeer produced by warm fermentation
Swedish ale
  • alebeer produced by warm fermentation
Tamil அளி
  • அளி (aḷi)beer produced by warm fermentation
Turkish ale, İngiliz birası
  • alebeer produced by warm fermentation
  • İngiliz birasıbeer produced by warm fermentation
Ukrainian ель
  • ель (elʹ)beer produced by warm fermentation
Welsh cwrw
  • cwrwbeer produced by warm fermentation
Yiddish ענגלישע ביר
  • ענגלישע ביר (englishe bir)beer produced by warm fermentation

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with ale

emailmailretailscaledetailfailtrailthumbnailtailtaledalejailyalepalegalesailavailbailvaleGailhalehailvailveil
All rhymes →

Anagrams

leaElaLAEael
Cite this entry
APA

ale. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ale

MLA

“ale.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ale. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ale,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ale.

Source: ale on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.