el

E1L1
/ˈɛl/[ɛɫ]/ɛl/

noun

The name of the Latin script letter L/l.

Similar
elevationaltitudeALTelevated railwayelevated railroadelevatedoverhead railway
Very commonScrabble 2

Meanings

el1

nounel (plural els)

plural els · alternative L · alternative ell

  1. The name of the Latin script letter L/l.

    The word length, which contains only four sounds l e ng th, is usually spell'd thus, el ee en gee tee aitch.

    1773 October, The Monthly Review Or Literary Journal Enlarged

el2

nounel (plural els)

plural els · alternative L

  1. USAn elevated railway, especially for specific systems such as the metro in Chicago (informal)

    The main section of the Sixth Avenue El from Morris Street to Ninth Avenue and 53rd Street shut down on December 4, 1938.

    2012, Roger P. Roess, Gene Sansone, The Wheels That Drove New York, page 294

el3

numeral
  1. The cardinal number occurring after dek and before do in a duodecimal system. Written ↋, decimal value 11.

el4

article
  1. InternethumorousinformalThe (sometimes where "the" would not occur in normal English).

    "[…] A sister of Joseph Gerard […] was found unconscious on the kitchen floor by the family cook early this morning. […]" […] What leads could they have, if the old lady was el zonko?

    2007, Richard Bachman, Blaze, page 125

el5

nounel (plural els)

plural els

  1. The name of the Cyrillic script letter Л / л

El6

proper noun
  1. Any of several major ancient Near East deities, including the supreme god of the Canaanite religion, but especially the supreme Hebrew God.

    […]who bared their brains to Heaven under the El and saw Mohammedan angels staggering on tenement roofs illuminated,[…]

    1956, Allen Ginsberg, “Howl”, in Howl and Other Poems (Pocket Poets Series), City Lights Books, →OCLC, page 9

El7

proper nounEl (plural Els)

plural Els

  1. slangtransportAny one of several specific elevated railways.

    The Washington Street El was torn down in 1987.

    1 more example

    Known colloquially as the "El," the elevated lines constituted the earliest attempt to remove urban passenger traffic from the streets.

    1955 July, “The Last Elevated Line in New York”, in Railway Magazine, page 444

El8

proper noun
  1. A unisex given name, often used as a nickname.

    Ever since El Martinez started asking to be called by the gender-neutral pronouns “they/them” in the ninth grade, they have fielded skepticism in a variety of forms and from a multitude of sources about what it means to identify as nonbinary.

    2019 May 29, Amy Harmon, “Which Box Do You Check? Some States Are Offering a Nonbinary Option”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 08 Jun 2019

EL9

nounEL (countable and uncountable, plural ELs)

plural ELs

  1. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of electroluminescence.
  2. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of encephalitis lethargica (von Economo disease, sleepy sickness).
proper noun
  1. abbreviationinitialismJava programming languageInitialism of Expression Language.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounangular distance above the horizon (especially of a celestial object)

Broader
angular position

nouna railway that is powered by electricity and that runs on a track that is raised above the street level

Similar
elevated railwayelevated railroadelevatedoverhead railway

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

el · noun

  1. Latinel
  2. Old Englishel
  3. Englishel

From Middle English, from Old English el, from Latin el (the name of the letter L).

Full word history & related roots →

el · article

  1. Spanishel
  2. Englishel

Borrowed from Spanish el.

Full word history & related roots →

El · proper noun

  1. Biblical Hebrewאֵל
  2. EnglishEl

From Biblical Hebrew אֵל (ʾēl).

Full word history & related roots →

El · proper noun

Clipping of elevated.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic إِل
  • إِل (ʔel)name of the letter L, l
Bengali এল
  • এল (el)name of the letter L, l
Bulgarian ел
  • ел (el)name of the letter L, l
Catalan ela
  • elaname of the letter L, l
Dutch el
  • elname of the letter L, l
Esperanto lo
  • loname of the letter L, l
Finnish äl, ällä
  • älname of the letter L, l
  • älläname of the letter L, l
French elle
  • ellename of the letter L, l
Greek ελ
  • ελname of the letter L, l
Hawaiian lā
  • lāname of the letter L, l
Hindi एल
  • एल (el)name of the letter L, l
Indonesian el
  • elname of the letter L, l
Irish eil, luis
  • eilname of the letter L, l
  • luisname of the letter L, l
Italian elle
  • ellename of the letter L, l
Japanese エル
  • エル (eru)name of the letter L, l
Korean 엘
  • 엘 (el)name of the letter L, l
Latin el
  • elname of the letter L, l
Malay el
  • elname of the letter L, l
Persian ال
  • ال (el)name of the letter L, l
Polish el
  • elname of the letter L, l
Portuguese ele
  • elename of the letter L, l
Russian эл, эль
  • эл (el)name of the letter L, l
  • эль (elʹ)name of the letter L, l
Spanish ele
  • elename of the letter L, l
Tagalog el, la (Abakada)
  • elname of the letter L, l
  • la (Abakada)name of the letter L, l
  • elename of the letter L, l
Thai แอล
  • แอล (ɛɛl)name of the letter L, l
Turkish le
  • lename of the letter L, l
Vietnamese e-lờ, lờ
  • e-lờname of the letter L, l
  • lờname of the letter L, l
Welsh el
  • elname of the letter L, l

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with el

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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