Fell

See also: fell

English

Etymology 1

• As an English surname, from the noun fell (“crag, rocky highland”).
• As an English, Jewish, and German surname, from Fell (“pelt, fur”) or its Yiddish equivalent. Compare Pilcher.

Proper noun

Fell

1. A surname.
   • 2024 July 5, “Labour seizes Cumbria winning five of six seats”, in BBC News‎^[1], archived from the original on 15 July 2024, retrieved 3 September 2026:

     Michelle Scrogham won Barrow and Furness for Labour, ousting Conservative Simon Fell, while her party colleague Lizzi Collinge secured Morecambe and Lunesdale.

2. A township in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States.
3. A municipality in Trier-Saarland district, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

Etymology 2

Noun

Fell (plural Fells)

1. Ellipsis of Fell pony.
   • 2016, Fern Collins, The Noble Horse, page 126:

     Fells are usually pure black with no white markings, but bay, gray, and brown are also possible.

2. (uncountable, rail transport) Ellipsis of Fell mountain railway system, named after John Barraclough Fell.
   • 1957 June, F. K. Pearson, “The Manx Electric Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 426:

     This line [the Snaefell Mountain Railway] is the world's only example of an electrically-operated railway with a Fell central rail.

German

Etymology

From Middle High German vël, from Old High German fël, from Proto-West Germanic *fell.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɛl/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Homophone: fäll
• Rhymes: -ɛl

Noun

Fell n (strong, genitive Felles or Fells, plural Felle, diminutive Fellchen n)

1. fur, coat, pelt (hairy skin of an animal)

   Die Katze hat so ein schönes, schwarzes Fell!

   This cat has such nice black fur!

2. hide (the detached, tanned skin of an animal)

Declension

Declension of Fell [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Fell	die	Felle
genitive	eines	des	Felles, Fells	der	Felle
dative	einem	dem	Fell, Felle1	den	Fellen
accusative	ein	das	Fell	die	Felle

¹Now rare, see notes.

Hyponyms

• Aalfell
• Bärenfell
• Bauchfell
• Biberfell
• Blaufuchsfell
• Büffelfell
• dickes Fell
• Eichhörnchenfell
• Hasenfell
• Kaninchenfell
• Lammfell
• Schaffell
• Trommelfell
• Wolfsfell
• Ziegenfell
• Zwerchfell

Derived terms

• das Fell gerben
• das Fell über die Ohren ziehen

compound nouns

• Fellaffe
• Fellhändler
• Fellhandschuh
• Felljacke
• Fellkragen
• Fellmantel
• Fellmütze
• Fellpflege
• Fellschuh
• Fellstiefel
• Fellwechsel

See also

• Felleisen

Further reading

• “Fell”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[2] (in German)
• “Fell” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.
• “Fell” in Duden online