snail

English

Garden snail.

Etymology

From the Middle English snaile, from the Old English snæġel 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

• 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.
   • Vegetius (in translation)

     They had also all manner of gynes [engines] […] that needful is [in] taking or sieging of castle or of city, as snails, that was naught else but hollow pavises and targets, under the which men, when they fought, were heled [protected] […]

5. The pod of the snail clover.

Synonyms

• dodman, hodmandod (East Anglia, dialectal)

Derived terms

• snail mail
• snail's pace

Translations

any animal of the class Gastropoda having a shell

• Abkhaz: акамыршша (āḳāmərššā)
• Adyghe: цӏыӏргъ (c̣əʾrġ)
• Albanian: kërmill (sq) m
• Arabic: حَلَزُونَة‎‎ f (ḥalazūna)

  Egyptian Arabic: قوقعة‎‎ f (ʾūʾaʿa)

  Iraqi Arabic: زلنطح‎‎ f (zalanṭaḥ)

  Moroccan Arabic: ببّوش‎‎ f (bəbbuš)

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

  Kabyle: ababbuc

  Tashelhit: aɣwlal m (aghwlal)

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

• Chuvash: шуй (šuj)
• Cree: ᐊᑲᐦᑲᐧᕀ (akahkway)
• Czech: hlemýžď (cs) m, šnek (cs) m
• Danish: snegl (da) c (this can also mean slug, so snail in Danish is more fully snegl med (da) skal (da))
• 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)
• Greenlandic: siuteroq
• Guaraní: jatyta
• Haitian Creole: kalmason
• Hebrew: שַׁבְּלוּל‎‎ (he) m (shablúl)
• Hindi: घोंगा (hi) m (ghoṅgā)
• Hinukh: хетІу-бисмилла
• Hungarian: csiga (hu)
• Icelandic: snigill (is) m
• Ido: heliko (io)
• Indonesian: bekicot (id), keong (id), siput (id)
• Ingush: митал (mital)
• Interlingua: limace
• Interlingue: helice
• 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 (katatsumuri)
• Kannada: ಬಸವನ ಹುಳು (kn) (basavana huḷu), ಶಂಬುಕ (kn) (śambuka)
• Kazakh: ұлу (ulw)
• Khinalug: илбиз (ilbiz)
• Khmer: ខ្យង (km) (khyɑɑng)
• Kimaragang: tuntul
• Korean: 달팽이 (ko) (dalpaeng-i), 와우 (wau) (蝸牛 (ko))
• Kryts: шийтІан
• Kyrgyz: үлүл (ky) (ülül)
• Lao: ຫອຍນ້ຳຈືດ (lo) (hǭi nam chư̄t)
• Latgalian: glīmiezs

• Latin: cochlea (la) f
• Latvian: m, gliemezis m
• Limburgish: snaegel (li) m, slak (li) f
• Lithuanian: sraigė (lt) f
• Lombard: lümaga f
• Luxembourgish: Schleek m
• Macedonian: полжав m (polžav)
• Malagasy: lelosy (mg), sifotra (mg)
• Malay: siput
• Malayalam: മന്ദഗതിക്കാരന് (mandagatikkāranŭ)
• Maltese: bebbuxu m, għakrux m
• Manx: crammag
• Maori: pūpū
• Marathi: गोगलगाय (gogalgāy)
• Mazanderani: لیسک‎‎ (lizak), راب‎‎ (rāb)
• Mon: တု (taoˀ)
• Mongolian: эмгэн хумс (emgen hums)
• Nahuatl: tecciztli (nah)
• Navajo: chʼosh chʼééh digháhii, tąądee naagháii
• Neapolitan: babbaluscia m
• Norman: colînmachon m
• Northern Sami: riipu
• Northern Sotho: kgohu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: snegl (no) m, snile m

  Nynorsk: snigel m

• Occitan: cagaraula (oc) f
• Old English: snægl m
• Old Irish: selige m
• Ossetian: сӕтӕлӕг (sætælæg)
• Pennsylvania German: Schneck m
• Persian: حلزون‎‎ (fa) (halazun), لیسک‎‎ (fa) (līsak)
• 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
• Scottish Gaelic: seilcheag f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пу̑ж m

  Roman: pȗž (sh) m

• 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

• Spanish: caracol (es) m
• Swahili: konokono (sw) class 5/6
• Swazi: um-nenkhé
• Swedish: snäcka (sv) c, snigel (sv) c
• Sylheti: ꠢꠣꠝꠥꠇ (hamuk)
• Tagalog: kuhol
• 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)
• Turkish: salyangoz (tr)
• Turkmen: ulitka
• Tuvan: please add this translation if you can
• Udi: аьлбиз (älbiz)
• Ukrainian: ра́влик m (rávlyk)
• Urdu: گھونگا‎‎ (ghõṅgā)
• Uyghur: قۇلۇلە‎‎ (qulule)
• Uzbek: chayon (uz)
• Venetian: sciùs
• Vietnamese: ốc (vi)
• Volapük: snel (vo)
• Walloon: caracole (wa) f
• Welsh: malwoden, malwen, malwod f
• West Coast Bajau: kesu'
• West Frisian: slak
• Yiddish: שנעק‎‎ m (shnek)
• Yucatec Maya: urich, uul
• Zazaki: seytanok c
• Zhuang: sae
• Zulu: umnenke (zu) class 3/4

sluggard

• Czech: šnek (cs) m
• Finnish: etana (fi)
• 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)
• Russian: тихохо́д (ru) m (tixoxód), копу́ша (ru) m, f (kopúša)
• Spanish: haragán (es) m, holgazán (es) m, gandul (es) m

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

Anagrams

• Lains, Lians, anils, lains, nails, nilas, slain