Meanings
awl1
plural awls
- A pointed instrument for piercing small holes, as in leather or wood; used by shoemakers, saddlers, cabinetmakers, etc. The blade is differently shaped and pointed for different uses, as in the brad awl, saddler's awl, shoemaker's awl, etc.
He dressed himself in some old ragged clothes, and took a tame white bear, which he had, with him, as well as an awl, some pitch, and twine.
1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 149 - biologyAny of various hesperiid butterflies.
AWL2
- alternativenot comparableAlternative form of AWOL (“absent without leave”).
- UKabbreviationinitialismgovernmentInitialism of Alliance for Workers' Liberty.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*ahwalaz“fork, hook”
- Proto-West Germanic*ahwal
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁ólos
- Proto-Germanic*alaz
- Proto-West Germanic*al
- Old Englishæl
- Middle Englishaul
- Englishawl
From Middle English aul, alle, al, from Old English æl, from Proto-West Germanic *al, from Proto-Germanic *alaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ólos. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Äil (“awl”), Dutch aal (“awl”), German Low German Ahl (“awl”), German Ahle (“awl”), Icelandic alur (“awl”). Spelling was influenced by the Old English synonym awel, awul (“awl”), from Proto-West Germanic *ahwal, from Proto-Germanic *ahwalaz (“fork, hook”), of unknown origin. Doublet of elsen.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ὄπεας, χήλευμα
- ὄπεας (ópeas)pointed instrument
- χήλευμα (khḗleuma)pointed instrument
Arabic مِخْرَز, إِشْفَى
- مِخْرَز (miḵraz)pointed instrument
- إِشْفَى (ʔišfā)pointed instrument
Bulgarian ши́ло
- ши́ло (šílo)pointed instrument
Catalan alena
- alenapointed instrument
Chinese Cantonese 錐 /锥
- 錐 /锥 (zeoi¹ / jeoi¹)pointed instrument
Chinese Mandarin 錐子 /锥子
- 錐子 /锥子 (zhuīzi)pointed instrument
Czech šídlo
- šídlopointed instrument
Danish syl
- sylpointed instrument
Dutch els, priem
- elspointed instrument
- priempointed instrument
Esperanto aleno
- alenopointed instrument
Estonian naaskel, pistel
- naaskelpointed instrument
- pistelpointed instrument
- orapointed instrument
- nõelpointed instrument
Finnish purasin
- purasinpointed instrument
French alène, alêne
- alènepointed instrument
- alênepointed instrument
German Pfriem, Ahle
- Pfriempointed instrument
- Ahlepointed instrument
Greek σουβλί
- σουβλί (souvlí)pointed instrument
Hebrew מַרְצֵעַ
- מַרְצֵעַ (martséa')pointed instrument
Hindi सूजा, आर
- सूजा (sūjā)pointed instrument
- आर (ār)pointed instrument
Hungarian ár
- árpointed instrument
Icelandic alur, sýll
- alurpointed instrument
- sýllpointed instrument
- síllpointed instrument
Indonesian alat pelubang
- alat pelubangpointed instrument
Irish meana
- meanapointed instrument
Italian punteruolo, lesina
- punteruolopointed instrument
- lesinapointed instrument
Japanese 突きぎり, 錐
- 突きぎり (tsukigiri)pointed instrument
- 錐 (kiri)pointed instrument
- 千枚通し (senmaidōshi)pointed instrument
Korean 송곳
- 송곳 (songgot)pointed instrument
Latin sūbula
- sūbulapointed instrument
Latvian īlens
- īlenspointed instrument
Lithuanian yla
- ylapointed instrument
Māori oka, kātara
- okapointed instrument
- kātarapointed instrument
Norwegian Bokmål syl
- sylpointed instrument
Polish szydło
- szydłopointed instrument
Portuguese furador, sovela
- furadorpointed instrument
- sovelapointed instrument
- almofatepointed instrument
Romanian sulă
- sulăpointed instrument
Russian ши́ло
- ши́ло (šílo)pointed instrument
Slovak šidlo
- šidlopointed instrument
Spanish lezna, lesna
- leznapointed instrument
- lesnapointed instrument
- alesnapointed instrument
- punzónpointed instrument
Swahili maharazi
- maharazipointed instrument
Swedish syl, pryl
- sylpointed instrument
- prylpointed instrument
Tagalog punson, suligi
- punsonpointed instrument
- suligipointed instrument
- balibolpointed instrument
- pambalibolpointed instrument
Thai จึ้ง, เหล็กหมาด
- จึ้ง (jʉ̂ng)pointed instrument
- เหล็กหมาด (lèk-màat)pointed instrument
- เหล็กแหลม (lèk-lɛ̌ɛm)pointed instrument
- เหล็กเจาะ (lèk-jɔ̀)pointed instrument
Turkish biz, tığ
- bizpointed instrument
- tığpointed instrument
Ukrainian ши́ло
- ши́ло (šýlo)pointed instrument
Urdu آر, سُوجا
- آر (ār)pointed instrument
- سُوجا (sūjā)pointed instrument
Vietnamese giùi, dùi
- giùipointed instrument
- dùipointed instrument
- lẹmpointed instrument
- kim chọcpointed instrument
- kim khâu dapointed instrument
Welsh mynawyd
- mynawydpointed instrument
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with awl
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
awl. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/awl
“awl.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/awl. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “awl,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/awl.
Source: awl on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.