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Added 9 October 2026

tail

/ˈteɪ̯l/ noun

In Latin: cauda Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about tail at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

The caudal appendage of an animal that is attached to their posterior and near the anus or cloaca.
Most primates have a tail and fangs.
An object or part of an object resembling a tail in shape, such as the thongs on a cat-o'-nine-tails; a strand of material hanging from something.
The back, last, lower, or inferior part of anything.

verb

To hold by the end; said of a timber when it rests upon a wall or other support; with in or into
To swing with the stern in a certain direction; said of a vessel at anchor.
This vessel tails downstream.
To follow or hang to, like a tail; to be attached closely to, as that which can not be evaded.

adjective

Limited; abridged; reduced; curtailed.
estate tail

noun

Limitation of inheritance to certain heirs.
tail male

Origin

From Middle English tail, taile, taille, tayil, tayl, tayle, tayll, teil, tæȝel, from Old English tæġel, tæġl (“tail”), from Proto-West Germanic *tagl, from Proto-Germanic *taglą (“hair, fiber; hair of a tail”), from Proto-Indo-European *doḱ- (“hair of the tail”), from Proto-Indo-European *deḱ- (“to tear, fray, shred”). Cognate with German Zagel (“tail”), Danish, Faroese, and Icelandic tagl (“tail”), Swedish tagel (“horsehair”), Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌲𐌻 (tagl, “hair”); also Serbo-Croatian дла̏ка, dlȁka (“single hair”), Slovene dlaka (“single hair”), Northern Kurdish dezî (“cotton, thread”), Sanskrit दशा (daśā, “border, fringe, hem”).

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

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