tel

See also: Appendix:Variations of "tel"

Languages (23)

Translingual • English

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Afrikaans • Albanian • Azerbaijani • Catalan • Classical Nahuatl • Crimean Tatar • Czech • Dutch • Fala • French • Indonesian • Japanese • Mizo • Old French • Old Norse • Rohingya • Serbo-Croatian • Tatar • Turkish • Volapük • West Frisian

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Page categories

Translingual

Etymology

Clipping of English Telugu or Telugu తెలుగు (telugu).

Symbol

tel

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Telugu.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Telugu terms

English

Etymology 1

Noun

tel (plural tels)

1. Abbreviation of telephone number.
2. Abbreviation of telegraph.
3. Abbreviation of telegram.

Derived terms

• telco

Translations

abbreviation of telephone number

• Finnish: puh. (fi)
• Georgian: ტელ (ṭel)
• Indonesian: telp.
• Japanese: tel (ja) (teru), 電番 (denban)
• Lao: ໂທ (thō)
• Mongolian: утас (mn) (utas) (no abbreviation used)
• Russian: телефо́н (ru) m (telefón) (no abbreviation is used)

Etymology 2

Noun

tel (plural tels)

1. Alternative form of tell (“hill or mound”).

Anagrams

• -let, ELT, ETL, LTE, TLE, elt, let

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch tellen, from Middle Dutch tellen, from Old Dutch tellen, from Proto-Germanic *taljaną.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tɛ̞ːl]

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

tel (present tel, present participle telende, past participle tellende)

1. to count

References

• 2007. The UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Department of Linguistics.

Albanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish تل (tel).

Noun

tel

1. thread
2. (music) chord, string

Derived terms

• tejzë

Azerbaijani

Other scripts

Cyrillic		тел
Arabic		تئل

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tel]

• Audio (Baku):

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Proto-Turkic *tēl (“wire, string; thong; strand”). Cognate with Karakhanid تِلیٖ (tili, “thong”), Crimean Tatar and Turkish tel, Turkmen til, Kumyk and Nogai тел (tel), Chuvash тал (tal, “bundle”). Alternatively, related to Armenian թել (tʻel, “thread”), either as a direct borrowing or originating from the same Iranian source.

The sense 'telegram' is possibly a phono-semantic matching of Azerbaijani teleqram.

Noun

tel (definite accusative teli, plural tellər)

1. strand of hair
2. string
3. wire
4. telegram

   tel vurmaq ― to send a telegram (to telegraph)

5. fringe; bang; forelock
6. tie

   qohumluq telləri ― kinship ties

Declension

Declension of tel

	singular	plural
nominative	tel	tellər
definite accusative	teli	telləri
dative	telə	tellərə
locative	teldə	tellərdə
ablative	teldən	tellərdən
definite genitive	telin	tellərin

Possessive forms of tel

	nominative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	telim	tellərim
sənin (“your”)	telin	tellərin
onun (“his/her/its”)	teli	telləri
bizim (“our”)	telimiz	tellərimiz
sizin (“your”)	teliniz	telləriniz
onların (“their”)	teli or telləri	telləri
	accusative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	telimi	tellərimi
sənin (“your”)	telini	tellərini
onun (“his/her/its”)	telini	tellərini
bizim (“our”)	telimizi	tellərimizi
sizin (“your”)	telinizi	tellərinizi
onların (“their”)	telini or tellərini	tellərini
	dative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	telimə	tellərimə
sənin (“your”)	telinə	tellərinə
onun (“his/her/its”)	telinə	tellərinə
bizim (“our”)	telimizə	tellərimizə
sizin (“your”)	telinizə	tellərinizə
onların (“their”)	telinə or tellərinə	tellərinə
	locative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	telimdə	tellərimdə
sənin (“your”)	telində	tellərində
onun (“his/her/its”)	telində	tellərində
bizim (“our”)	telimizdə	tellərimizdə
sizin (“your”)	telinizdə	tellərinizdə
onların (“their”)	telində or tellərində	tellərində
	ablative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	telimdən	tellərimdən
sənin (“your”)	telindən	tellərindən
onun (“his/her/its”)	telindən	tellərindən
bizim (“our”)	telimizdən	tellərimizdən
sizin (“your”)	telinizdən	tellərinizdən
onların (“their”)	telindən or tellərindən	tellərindən
	genitive
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	telimin	tellərimin
sənin (“your”)	telinin	tellərinin
onun (“his/her/its”)	telinin	tellərinin
bizim (“our”)	telimizin	tellərimizin
sizin (“your”)	telinizin	tellərinizin
onların (“their”)	telinin or tellərinin	tellərinin

Etymology 2

Clipping of telefon.

Noun

tel (definite accusative teli, plural tellər)

1. (Internet) telephone

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Late Latin tēlum, from tēla.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [ˈte̞l]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈtəl]
• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈtɛl]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [ˈtel]

Noun

tel m (plural tels)

1. membrane
2. film, skin

   tel de ceba ― onionskin

Derived terms

• tel de la llengua

Further reading

• “tel”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Classical Nahuatl

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈtéːɬ]

Etymology 1

Particle

tēl

1. however, nonetheless

Etymology 2

Noun

tēl inan

1. first-person plural possessive singular of ēlli; (it is) our liver; the human liver.
2. first-person plural possessive plural of ēlli; (they are) our livers.

Crimean Tatar

Etymology

Compare Ottoman Turkish تل (tel), Old Armenian թել (tʻel).

Noun

tel (accusative [please provide], plural [please provide])

1. wire

   baqır tel ― copper wire

2. (music) chord, string

Declension

Declension of tel

	singular	plural
nominative	tel	teller
genitive	telniñ	tellerniñ
dative	telge	tellerge
accusative	telni	tellerni
locative	telde	tellerde
ablative	telden	tellerden

References

• “tel”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈtɛl]

Verb

tel

1. second-person singular imperative of telit

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛl

Etymology 1

Deverbal from tellen.

Noun

tel m (plural tellen, diminutive telletje n)

1. count

   De gebedssnoeren worden gebruikt om de tel niet kwijt te raken bij het reciteren of chanten.^(WP) — Prayer beads are used in order to not lose count while reciting or chanting.

2. (time) second
3. a short moment

Derived terms

• op zijn tellen passen

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

tel

1. inflection of tellen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

Anagrams

• Let, let

Fala

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese teer. Compare Portuguese ter and Galician ter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtel/
• Rhymes: -el
• Syllabification: tel

Verb

tel

1. to have

Conjugation

Conjugation of tel (Lagarteiru)

infinitive			tel
gerund			tendu
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		tíu		tía
		plural		tíus		tías
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		ei	tú	el/ela	nos	vos	elis/elas
	present	teñu	tes	ten	temus	tendis tindis	tenin
	imperfect	tiña	tiñas	tiña	tiñamus	tiñis	tiñan
	preterite	tuvi	tuvestis tuvetis	tuvu	tuvimus	tuvestis tuvetis	tuveran
	future	tendré telné	tendrás telnás	tendrá telná	tendremus telnemus	tendreis telneis	tendrán telnán
	conditional	tindría tilnía	tindrías tilnías	tindría tilnía	tindríamus tilníamus	tindríais tilníais	tindrían tilnían
subjunctive		ei	tú	el/ela	nos	vos	elis/elas
	present	teña	teñas	teña	teñamus	teñais	teña
	imperfect (ra)	tuvera	tuveras	tuvera	tuvéramus	tuveris	tuveram
	imperfect (si)	tuvesi	tuvesis	tuvesi	tuvésimus	tuvesis	tuvesin
imperative		—	ten	—	—	tendi tindi	—

Conjugation of tel (Mañegu)

infinitive			tel
gerund			tendu
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		tíu		tía
		plural		tíus		tías
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		ei	tú	el/ela	nos	vos	elis/elas
	present	teñu	tes	ten	temus	tendis	tenin
	imperfect	tiña	tiñas	tiña	tiñamus	tiñis tiñais	tiñan
	preterite	tuvi	tuvestis	tuvu	tuvemus	tuvestis	tuveran
	future	tendré	tendrás	tendrá	tendremus	tendreis	tendrán
	conditional	tindría	tindrías	tindría	tindríamus	tindríis	tindrían
subjunctive		ei	tú	el/ela	nos	vos	elis/elas
	present	teña	teñas	teña	teñamus	teñais	teña
	imperfect (ra)	tuvera	tuveras	tuvera	tuvéramus	tuveris tuverais	tuveram
	imperfect (si)	tuvesi	tuvesis	tuvesi	tuvésimus	tuvesis	tuvesin
imperative		—	ten	—	—	tendi	—

Conjugation of tel (Valverdeñu)

infinitive			tel
gerund			tendu
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		tíu		tía
		plural		tíus		tías
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		ei	tú	el/ela	nos	vos	elis/elas
	present	teñu	tes	ten	temus	tendis	tenin
	imperfect	tiña	tiñas	tiña	tiñamus	tiñais	tiñan
	preterite	tuvi	tuvestis	tuvu	tuvimus	tuvestis	tuveran
	future	tendré	tendrás	tendrá	tendremus	tendreis	tendrán
	conditional	tendría	tendrías	tendría	tendríamus	tendríais	tendrían
subjunctive		ei	tú	el/ela	nos	vos	elis/elas
	present	teña	teñas	teña	teñamus	teñais	teña
	imperfect (ra)	tuvera	tuveras	tuvera	tuvéramus	tuverais	tuveram
	imperfect (si)	tuvesi	tuvesis	tuvesi	tuvésimus	tuvesis	tuvesin
imperative		—	ten	—	—	tendis	—

References

• Valeš, Miroslav (2021), Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu (web), 2nd edition, Minde, Portugal: CIDLeS, published 2022, →ISBN, page 406

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French tel, from Old French tel, tal, from Latin tālis. Compare Spanish tal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Adjective

tel (feminine telle, masculine plural tels, feminine plural telles)

1. such

   Synonyms: même, pareil, semblable

   Être, ou ne pas être : telle est la question.

   To be, or not to be, that is the question.

   (literally, “ […] such is the question.”)

Derived terms

• comme tel
• en tant que tel
• rien de tel
• tel et tel
• tel ou tel
• tel père, tel fils
• tel que
• tel quel
• telle mère, telle fille
• tellement

Conjunction

tel

1. like, as

   Synonym: comme

   Il fond sur elle tel un oiseau de proie.

   He swoops down on her like a bird of prey.

2. such as

   Synonyms: comme, tel que

   Ottawa compte aussi de charmantes tables, tel le Fraser Café.

   Ottawa is also home to some enchanting restaurants, such as the Fraser Café.

Usage notes

• Even in this usage, tel agrees in gender and number with the noun that follows, as in tel un oiseau (like a bird) or telles des feuilles (like leaves).

Pronoun

tel m

1. one (impersonal pronoun)

Derived terms

• tellement

Further reading

• “tel”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Indonesian

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Dutch tel (“count”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛl/ [ˈt̪ɛl]
• Rhymes: -ɛl
• Syllabification: tel

Noun

tel (plural tel-tel)

1. (obsolete) count

   Synonym: bilangan

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛl/ [ˈt̪ɛl]
• Rhymes: -ɛl
• Syllabification: tel

Noun

tel (plural tel-tel)

1. apocopic form of telepon

Further reading

• “tel”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Japanese

For pronunciation and definitions of tel – see the following entry: TEL

(The following entry does not have a page created for it yet: TEL.)

Mizo

Etymology

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *tel.

Verb

tel

1. to accompany, join (other people in a group)

Further reading

• Lorrain, J. Herbert (1940), “tel”, in Dictionary of the Lushai language, Calcutta: Asiatic Society

Old French

Etymology

From Latin tālis.

Adjective

tel m (oblique and nominative feminine singular tele)

1. such a
   • circa 1050, Turoldus, La Chanson de Roland (Oxford manuscript)

     Unques nuls hom tel chevaler ne vit

     Never has a man seen such a knight

Declension

	Case	masculine	feminine	neuter
singular	subject	tels, teus or tex	tele	tel
	oblique	tel			tele	tel
plural	subject	tel	teles		tel
	oblique	tels, teus or tex			teles	tel

Related terms

• itel

Old Norse

Verb

tel

1. first-person singular present indicative of telja
2. second-person singular imperative of telja

Rohingya

Alternative forms

• 𐴃𐴠𐴓𐴢 (tel) — Hanifi Rohingya script

Etymology

From Sanskrit तैल (taila).

Noun

tel (Hanifi spelling 𐴃𐴠𐴓𐴢)

1. oil

Serbo-Croatian

FWOTD – 22 February 2014

Etymology

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish تل (tel).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /têl/

Noun

tȅl m inan (Cyrillic spelling те̏л)

1. (obsolete) thin wire

   Ne biju se tako pobinjice, već se biju od tela kandžijom

2. silver or golden thread or string for sewing or embroidering
   • 1906, Stevan Sremac, Zona Zamfirova:

     Pustila dugu kosu niz pleća i preko grudi, a niz dugu kosu pušta se tel, blešti i treperi tel među crnom bujnom kosom, pa mu izgleda Zona sjajna i svečana kao zavetna ikona.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

Declension of tel

	singular	plural
nominative	tel	teli
genitive	tela	tela
dative	telu	telima
accusative	tel	tele
vocative	tele	teli
locative	telu	telima
instrumental	telom	telima

References

• 1957, Škaljić Abdulah, Turcizmi u narodnom govoru, Sarajevo
• 1976, Речник српскохрватскога књижевног језика, VI. књига, Ц-Ш (стотина), друго фототипско издање, Матица српска, Нови Сад, стр. 171

Tatar

Noun

tel

1. tongue; language

Turkish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tel/

Etymology 1

From Ottoman Turkish تل (tel). See it for more.

Noun

tel (definite accusative teli, plural teller)

1. wire
2. thread
3. string, chord

   tambur teli ― string of a tambur

4. telegram

   tel çekmek ― send a telegram

Declension

Declension of tel

singular plural nominative tel teller definite accusative teli telleri dative tele tellere locative telde tellerde ablative telden tellerden genitive telin tellerin Possessive forms nominative singular plural 1st singular telim tellerim 2nd singular telin tellerin 3rd singular teli telleri 1st plural telimiz tellerimiz 2nd plural teliniz telleriniz 3rd plural telleri telleri definite accusative singular plural 1st singular telimi tellerimi 2nd singular telini tellerini 3rd singular telini tellerini 1st plural telimizi tellerimizi 2nd plural telinizi tellerinizi 3rd plural tellerini tellerini dative singular plural 1st singular telime tellerime 2nd singular teline tellerine 3rd singular teline tellerine 1st plural telimize tellerimize 2nd plural telinize tellerinize 3rd plural tellerine tellerine locative singular plural 1st singular telimde tellerimde 2nd singular telinde tellerinde 3rd singular telinde tellerinde 1st plural telimizde tellerimizde 2nd plural telinizde tellerinizde 3rd plural tellerinde tellerinde ablative singular plural 1st singular telimden tellerimden 2nd singular telinden tellerinden 3rd singular telinden tellerinden 1st plural telimizden tellerimizden 2nd plural telinizden tellerinizden 3rd plural tellerinden tellerinden genitive singular plural 1st singular telimin tellerimin 2nd singular telinin tellerinin 3rd singular telinin tellerinin 1st plural telimizin tellerimizin 2nd plural telinizin tellerinizin 3rd plural tellerinin tellerinin

Derived terms

• ağ teli
• bam teli
• elektrik teli
• gelin teli
• her sakaldan bir tel çekseler köseye sakal olur
• kas teli
• müzik teli
• piyano teli
• saç teli
• ses teli
• tel şehriye
• telli
• telsiz

Etymology 2

Abbreviation of telefon.

Noun

tel

1. abbreviation of telefon

Declension

Declension of tel

singular plural nominative tel teller definite accusative teli telleri dative tele tellere locative telde tellerde ablative telden tellerden genitive telin tellerin Possessive forms nominative singular plural 1st singular telim tellerim 2nd singular telin tellerin 3rd singular teli telleri 1st plural telimiz tellerimiz 2nd plural teliniz telleriniz 3rd plural telleri telleri definite accusative singular plural 1st singular telimi tellerimi 2nd singular telini tellerini 3rd singular telini tellerini 1st plural telimizi tellerimizi 2nd plural telinizi tellerinizi 3rd plural tellerini tellerini dative singular plural 1st singular telime tellerime 2nd singular teline tellerine 3rd singular teline tellerine 1st plural telimize tellerimize 2nd plural telinize tellerinize 3rd plural tellerine tellerine locative singular plural 1st singular telimde tellerimde 2nd singular telinde tellerinde 3rd singular telinde tellerinde 1st plural telimizde tellerimizde 2nd plural telinizde tellerinizde 3rd plural tellerinde tellerinde ablative singular plural 1st singular telimden tellerimden 2nd singular telinden tellerinden 3rd singular telinden tellerinden 1st plural telimizden tellerimizden 2nd plural telinizden tellerinizden 3rd plural tellerinden tellerinden genitive singular plural 1st singular telimin tellerimin 2nd singular telinin tellerinin 3rd singular telinin tellerinin 1st plural telimizin tellerimizin 2nd plural telinizin tellerinizin 3rd plural tellerinin tellerinin

References

• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “tel”, in Nişanyan Sözlük

Volapük

Volapük numbers ^(edit)

	20
←  1	2	3  →
Cardinal: tel     Ordinal: telid     Adverbial: telna     Fractional: teldil

Numeral

tel

1. two
   • 1932, Arie de Jong, Leerboek der Wereldtaal, page 19:

     Hifeilan at dalabom jevodis tel e kunis deg.

     This farmer owns two horses and ten cows.

Derived terms

• telüm

West Frisian

Adverb

tel

1. (archaic) soon

Further reading

• “tel (II)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011