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Added 9 October 2026

shoal

/ʃəʊl/ noun

In Latin: pulvīnus Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about shoal at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A sandbank in a stretch of water that is visible at low tide.
A stretch of shallow water.
A large group of fish.
a school of small glittering fish swam by

verb

Make shallow.
The silt shallowed the canal
Become shallow.
the lake shallowed over time

Origin

From Middle English schold, scholde, from Old English sċeald (“shallow”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *skalidaz, past participle of *skaljaną (“to go dry, dry up, become shallow”), from *skalaz (“parched, shallow”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₁- (“to dry out”). Cognate with Low German Scholl (“shallow water”), German schal (“stale, flat, vapid”). Compare shallow.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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