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 (aḳaməršša)
• Adyghe: цӏыӏргъ (c̣əʾrġ)
• 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 (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

• 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 (etmäʿig)
• 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)

• 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: хетІу-бисмилла (xetІu-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 (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 (ulw)
• Khinalug: илбиз (ilbiz)
• Khmer: ខ្យង (km) (khyɑɑng)
• Kimaragang: tuntul
• Korean: 달팽이 (ko) (dalpaeng'i), 와우(蝸牛) (wau)
• Kryts: шийтІан
• 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
• Limburgish: snaegel m, slak (li) f
• Lithuanian: sraigė (lt) f
• Lombard: lumaga (lmo) f
• Luxembourgish: Schleek m
• Lü: please add this translation if you can
• 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 (lisek), راب‎ (rāb)
• Mon: တု (taoˀ)
• Mongolian:

  эмгэн хумс (emgen khums) ᠡᠮᠡᠭᠡᠨ
  ᠬᠢᠮᠤᠰᠤ (emegen qimusu):

  бүрээ хорхой (büree khorkhoi) ᠪᠦᠷᠢᠶ᠎ᠡ
  ᠬᠣᠷᠣᠬᠠᠢ (büriy-e qoroqai) (especially Inner Mongolia)

• 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
• Swahili: konokono (sw) 5 or 6
• Swazi: um-nenkhé
• Swedish: 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: хап-балык (xap-balık)
• Udi: аьлбиз (älbiz)
• Ukrainian: ра́влик m (rávlyk), слима́к m (slymák)
• 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
• Yámana: atwel
• Zazaki: seytanok c
• Zhuang: sae, saehaexma, hoingwh
• Zulu: umnenke (zu) 3 or 4

sluggard

• Catalan: dropo (ca) m, mandrós m
• Czech: šnek (cs) m
• Danish: snegl (da) c
• 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)
• 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