snail

English

garden snail

Etymology

From the Middle English snaile, snayle, from the Old English sneġel, from Proto-Germanic *snagilaz. Cognate with Low German Snagel, Snâel, Snâl (“snail”), German Schnegel (“slug”). Compare also Old Norse snigill, from Proto-Germanic *snigilaz.

Pronunciation

• enPR: snāl
• IPA^(key): /sneɪl/, [sn̥eɪ̯ɫ]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪl

Noun

snail (plural snails)

1. Any of very many animals (either hermaphroditic or nonhermaphroditic), of the class Gastropoda, having a coiled shell.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     ‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared. […]’

2. (informal, by extension) A slow person; a sluggard.
3. (engineering) A spiral cam, or a flat piece of metal of spirally curved outline, used for giving motion to, or changing the position of, another part, as the hammer tail of a striking clock.
4. (military, historical) A tortoise or testudo; a movable roof or shed to protect besiegers.
5. The pod of the snail clover.
6. (rail transport) A locomotive with a prime mover but no traction motors, used to provide extra electrical power to another locomotive.

Synonyms

• dodman, hodmandod (East Anglia, dialectal)

Derived terms

• snail trefoil (Medicago scutellata)
• snail mail
• snail's pace

Translations

any animal of the class Gastropoda having a shell

• Abkhaz: акамыршша (akʼamərŝŝa)
• Afrikaans: please add this translation if you can
• Aghwan: please add this translation if you can
• Aklanon: please add this translation if you can
• Adyghe: цӏыӏргъ (cʼəʼrğ)
• Albanian: kërmill (sq) m
• Arabic: حَلَزُونَة‎ f (ḥalazūna), حَلَزُون‎ m (ḥalazūn)

  Algerian Arabic: بُوجَغلال‎ (bujaġlal)

  Egyptian Arabic: بزاقة‎ f (bazzāʾa), قوقعة‎ f (ʾoʾʿa)

  Gulf Arabic: صبّان‎ f (ṣabbān)

  Iraqi Arabic: زلنطح‎ f (zalanṭaḥ)

  Moroccan Arabic: بَبُّوش‎ (babbūš), حلزون‎‎ f (ḥalazūn), غلالة‎ f (ḡlāla)

  North Levantine Arabic: بزّقة‎ f (bezzaʾa)

  Tunisian Arabic: ببّوش‎ f (bebbūš)

• Aragonese: caragol m
• Armenian: խխունջ (hy) (xxunǰ)
• Assamese: শামুক (xamuk)
• Asturian: cascoxu (ast) m, caracol (ast) m
• Avar: цӏадал хӏама (cʼadal ḥʳama)
• Aymara: ch'uru
• Azerbaijani: ilbiz (az)
• Basque: barraskilo
• Bats: ჰიმო̂ (himô)
• Belarusian: смоўж (be) m (smoŭž), сліма́к m (slimák), улі́тка f (ulítka)
• Bemba: ín-kolâ
• Bengali: শামুক (bn) (śamuk)
• Berber:

  Kabyle: ababbuc

  Tashelhit: aɣwlal m

• Borôro: uruwo
• Breton: melc'hwed (br)
• Bulgarian: о́хлюв (bg) m (óhljuv)
• Burmese: ခရုပက်ကျိ (my) (hka.ru.pakkyi.), ပက်ကျိ (my) (pakkyi.)
• Catalan: caragol (ca) m, cargol (ca)
• Central Melanau: sek
• Chakma: 𑄥𑄟𑄪𑄇𑄴 (sāmuk), 𑄌𑄖𑄴 (cat)
• Chamicuro: shyamo
• Chechen: этмаьӏиг (etmạ̈ig)
• Cherokee: ᎡᎶᏆ (eloqua)
• Chichewa: nkhono
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 蝸牛, 蜗牛 (wo¹ ngau⁴)

  Mandarin: 蝸牛 (zh), 蜗牛 (zh) (wōniú, guāniú)

  Min Dong: 牛母牛囝 (ngù-mō̤-ngù-giāng)

  Min Nan: 露螺 (zh-min-nan) (lō͘-lê)

  Wu: 蝸牛, 蜗牛 (ku nyieu)

• Chittagonian: óõk
• Chuvash: шуй (šuj)
• Cree: ᐊᑲᐦᑿᕀ (akahkway)
• Czech: hlemýžď (cs) m, šnek (cs) m
• Danish: snegl (da) c (can also mean slug), snegl med sneglehus (expressly with a shell)
• Dutch: slak (nl) f, huisjesslak (nl) f
• Emilian: lumèga f
• Erzya: гуйтодов (gujtodov)
• Esperanto: heliko (eo)
• Estonian: tigu
• Faroese: snigil m
• Finnish: kotilo (fi), etana (fi)
• Franco-Provençal: lemace f
• French: escargot (fr) m, limaçon (fr)
• Galician: cosco (gl) m, cornacha f, cornacho m, sesillo m, caxirolo m, cascarolo (gl) m
• Georgian: ლოკოკინა (loḳoḳina)
• German: Schnecke (de) f (any animal of the class Gastropoda, also without shell), Gehäuseschnecke f

  Alemannic German: Schnägg m

• Gilaki: راب‎ (rāb)
• Greek: σαλιγκάρι (el) n (saligkári)

  Ancient: κόχλιας m (kókhlias)

• Greenlandic: siuteroq
• Guaraní: jatyta
• Haitian Creole: kalmason
• Hebrew: חִלָּזוֹן‎ (he) m (ẖilazón), שַׁבְּלוּל‎ (he) m (shablúl)
• Hindi: घोंगा (hi) m (ghoṅgā)
• Hinukh: хетӏу-бисмилла (xet’u-bismilla)
• Hungarian: csiga (hu)
• Icelandic: snigill (is) m
• Ido: heliko (io)
• Indonesian: bekicot (id), keong (id), siput (id)
• Ingush: митал (mital)
• Interlingua: limace (ia)
• Irish: seilide (ga) m, seilmide m, seilche m
• Isthmus Zapotec: bichubé
• Italian: chiocciola (it) f, lumaca (it) f
• Japanese: 蝸牛 (ja) (かたつむり, katatsumuri), カタツムリ (ja) (katatsumuri), でんでん虫 (でんでんむし, denden-mushi) (regional)
• Kannada: ಬಸವನ ಹುಳು (kn) (basavana huḷu), ಶಂಬುಕ (kn) (śambuka)
• Kazakh: ұлу (ūlu)
• Khinalug: илбиз (ilbiz)
• Khmer: ខ្យង (km) (khyɑɑng)
• Kimaragang: tuntul
• Korean: 달팽이 (ko) (dalpaeng'i), 와우(蝸牛) (wau)
• Kryts: шийтӏан
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: hiseynok (ku), şeytanok (ku)

• Kyrgyz: үлүл (ky) (ülül)
• Lao: ຫອຍນ້ຳຈືດ (lo) (hǭi nam chư̄t)
• Latgalian: glīmiezs
• Latin: cochlea (la) f
• Latvian: gliemezis m
• Laz: ფენწო (penǯo)
• Limburgish: snaegel m, slak (li) f
• Lithuanian: sraigė (lt) f
• Lombard: lumaga (lmo) f
• Luxembourgish: Schleek (lb) m
• Lü: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: полжав m (polžav)
• Malagasy: lelosy (mg), sifotra (mg)
• Malay: siput (ms)
• Malayalam: ഒച്ച് (ml) (occŭ)
• Maltese: bebbux m, għakrux m
• Manx: crammag
• Maori: pūpū
• Marathi: गोगलगाय (gogalgāy)
• Mazanderani: لیسک‎ (lisek), راب‎ (rāb)
• Mingrelian: ფერწო (perc̣o), ლოქორუა (lokorua)
• Mon: တု (taoˀ)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: эмгэн хумс (emgen xums), бүрээ хорхой (büree xorxoj) (especially Inner Mongolia)

  Mongolian: ᠡᠮᠡᠭᠡᠨ
  ᠬᠢᠮᠤᠰᠤ (emegen qimusu) ᠪᠦᠷᠢᠶ᠎ᠡ
  ᠬᠣᠷᠣᠬᠠᠢ (büriy'e qoroqai̯)

• Nahuatl: tecciztli (nah)
• Navajo: chʼosh chʼééh digháhii, tąądee naagháii
• Neapolitan: babbaluscia m
• Norman: colînmachon m
• Northern Sami: riipu
• Northern Sotho: kgohu
• Northern Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: snegl (no) m, snile m

  Nynorsk: snigel m

• Occitan: cagaraula (oc) f
• Ojibwe: biimiskodisii
• Old East Slavic: смолжь m (smolžĭ)
• Old English: sneġel m (snail or slug), ġehūsod sneġel m (snail specifically)
• Old Irish: selige m
• Ossetian: сӕтӕлӕг (sætælæg)
• Pashto: غوابيژه‎ f (ǧwābíža), غوابيژی‎ m (ǧwābížay), غواګۍ‎ f (ǧwāgǝ́y)
• Pennsylvania German: Schneck m
• Persian: حلزون‎ (fa) (halazun), لیسک‎ (fa) (lisak)
• Plautdietsch: Schnigj f
• Polish: ślimak (pl) m
• Portuguese: caramujo (pt) m, caracol (pt) m
• Quechua: ch'uru
• Romagnol: lumég f
• Romanian: melc (ro) m
• Romansch: lindorna f
• Russian: ули́тка (ru) f (ulítka)
• Samogitian: srāgis f
• Sanskrit: शम्बूक (sa) m (śambūka)
• Scottish Gaelic: seilcheag f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пу̑ж m

  Roman: pȗž (sh) m

• Shan: please add this translation if you can
• Shona: hózhwe
• Sicilian: babbaluciu (scn) m, bucalaci (scn) m, crastuni (scn) m (big snail), (edible snail) stuppateddu (scn) m, vavaluci (scn) m
• Sinhalese: ගොළුබෙලි (goḷubeli)
• Slovak: slimák m
• Slovene: polž (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: slinik m

  Upper Sorbian: šlink m

• Southern Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: caracol (es) m
• Svan: მჷრღჷჭ (mərɣəč̣), მჷყა̄ნც (məq̇ānc)
• Swahili: konokono (sw) class 5/6
• Swazi: um-nenkhé
• Swedish: snigel (sv) c
• Sylheti: ꠢꠣꠝꠥꠇ (hamuk)
• Tagalog: kuhol
• Tagal Murut: please add this translation if you can
• Tajik: тӯқумшуллуқ (tüqumšulluq), холазун (xolazun)
• Tamil: நத்தை (ta) (nattai)
• Tatar: лайлач (laylaç)
• Telugu: నత్త (te) (natta)
• Thai: หอยทาก (hɔ̌i-tâak)
• Tibetan: སྨུག་འབུ (smug 'bu)
• Tigrinya: ኣረነ (ʾaränä)
• Turkish: salyangoz (tr)
• Turkmen: ulitka
• Tuvan: хап-балык (xap-balık)
• Udi: аьлбиз (älbiz)
• Ukrainian: ра́влик m (rávlyk), слима́к m (slymák)
• Urdu: گھونگا‎ (ghõṅgā)
• Uyghur: قۇلۇلە‎ (qulule)
• Uzbek: chayon (uz), shilliq qurt
• Venetian: sciùs
• Vietnamese: ốc (vi)
• Volapük: snel (vo)
• Walloon: caracole (wa) f
• Welsh: malwoden, malwen, malwod f
• West Coast Bajau: kesu'
• West Frisian: slak
• Wolof: please add this translation if you can
• Yiddish: שנעק‎ m (shnek)
• Yucatec Maya: urich, uul
• Yup'ik: please add this translation if you can
• Yámana: atwel
• Zazaki: seytanok c
• Zhuang: sae, saehaexma, hoingwh
• Zulu: umnenke (zu) class 3/4

sluggard

• Catalan: dropo (ca) m, mandrós (ca) m
• Czech: šnek (cs) m
• Danish: snegl (da) c
• Finnish: etana (fi)
• French: escargot (fr) m
• Galician: nugallán (gl) m, preguiceiro (gl) m, larchán m, arlote m, manguan m, lacazán (gl) m, mandrión m, bacaceiro m, loirán m, macandón m, estrobán m, baleigán (gl) m, brégolas (gl) m, gandaina (gl) m, lampantín (gl) m, camándula m, camanduleiro m, langrán (gl) m, loubán (gl) m, moulón m, galbán (gl) m
• Georgian: ლოკოკინა (loḳoḳina)
• Korean: 느림보 (neurimbo)
• Polish: osoba, która wlecze się f
• Portuguese: lesma (pt) f
• Russian: тихохо́д (ru) m (tixoxód), копу́ша (ru) m or f (kopúša)
• Spanish: haragán (es) m, holgazán (es) m, gandul (es) m, tortuga (es) f

See also

• heliciculture
• slug

Verb

snail (third-person singular simple present snails, present participle snailing, simple past and past participle snailed)

1. To move or travel very slowly.

   The cars were snailing along the motorway during the rush hour.

Anagrams

• Lains, Lians, Nilas, Sinla, anils, lains, nails, nilas, salin, slain