tail

See also: Tail, taił, and täil

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
Two ring-tailed lemurs, each with a long tail.

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

    Category:English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#TAILCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#TAILCategory:English terms derived from Old English#TAILCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#TAILCategory:English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#TAILCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#TAILCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#TAILCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#TAILCategory:Pages with etymology trees#TAILCategory:English entries with etymology trees#TAILCategory:Pages using etymon with no ID#TAIL

    From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#TAILCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#TAIL tail, tayl, teil, from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#TAILCategory:English terms derived from Old English#TAIL tæġl (tail), from Proto-West GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#TAILCategory:English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#TAIL *tagl, from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#TAILCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#TAIL *taglą (hair, fiber; hair of a tail), from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#TAIL *doḱ- (hair of the tail), from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#TAIL *deḱ- (to tear, fray, shred). Cognate with Scots tail (tail), Saterland Frisian Tail (tail, end), West Frisian teil (tail), Dutch teil (tail, haulm, blade), Low German Tagel (twisted scourge, whip of thongs and ropes; end of a rope), German Zagel (tail), dialectal Danish tavl (hair of the tail), Swedish tagel (hair of the tail, horsehair), Norwegian tagl (tail), Icelandic tagl (tail, horsetail, ponytail), Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌲𐌻 (tagl, hair). In some senses, apparently by a generalization of the usual opposition between head and tail.

    Noun

    tail (plural tails)Category:English lemmas#TAILCategory:English nouns#TAILCategory:English countable nouns#TAILCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#TAILCategory:Pages with entries#TAILCategory:Pages with 6 entries#TAIL

    1. (anatomyCategory:en:Anatomy#TAIL) 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.
      Category:English terms with usage examples#TAIL
    2. An object or part of an object resembling a tail in shape, such as the thongs on a cat-o'-nine-tails.
      • 1672, Gideon Harvey, Morbus Anglicus: or the Anatomy of Consumptions, page 112:
        Duretus writes a great praise of the Distill'd waters of those tails that hang on Willow Trees.
        Category:English terms with quotations#TAIL
    3. The back, last, lower, or inferior part of anything.
    4. The feathers attached to the pygostyle of a bird.
    5. The tail-end of any object.
    6. The rear structure of an aircraft, the empennage.
    7. (astronomyCategory:en:Astronomy#TAIL) The visible stream of dust and gases blown from a comet by the solar wind.
    8. The latter part of a time period or event, or (collectively) persons or objects represented in this part.
    9. (statisticsCategory:en:Statistics#TAIL) The part of a distribution most distant from the mode.
      Category:English terms with collocations#TAIL
    10. One who surreptitiously follows another.
    11. (cricketCategory:en:Cricket#TAIL) The lower order of batsmen in the batting order, usually specialist bowlers.
    12. (typographyCategory:en:Typography#TAIL) The lower loop of the letters in the Roman alphabet, as in g, q or y.
      Synonym: descender
    13. (chiefly in the plural) The side of a coin not bearing the head; normally the side on which the monetary value of the coin is indicated; the reverse.
    14. (mathematicsCategory:en:Mathematics#TAIL) All the last terms of a sequence, from some term on.
      A sequence is said to be frequently if every tail of the sequence contains .Category:English terms with usage examples#TAIL
    15. (now colloquialCategory:English colloquialisms#TAIL, chiefly USCategory:American English#TAIL) The buttocks or backside.
    16. (slangCategory:English slang#TAIL) The penis of a person or animal.
    17. (slangCategory:English slang#TAIL, uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#TAIL) Sexual intercourse.
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:copulation
      I'm gonna get me some tail tonight.Category:English terms with usage examples#TAIL
    18. (kayaking) The stern; the back of the kayak.
    19. A train or company of attendants; a retinue.
      • 1814, Walter Scott, Waverley: Or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since, page 238:
        Ah! if you Saxon Duinhé-wassal (English gentleman) saw but the chief with his tail on. [] that is, with all his usual followers
        Category:English terms with quotations#TAIL
    20. (anatomyCategory:en:Anatomy#TAIL) The distal tendon of a muscle.
    21. (entomologyCategory:en:Entomology#TAIL) A filamentous projection on the tornal section of each hind wing of certain butterflies.
    22. A downy or feathery appendage of certain achens,Category:Requests for attention concerning English#TAIL formed of the permanent elongated style.
    23. (surgeryCategory:en:Surgery#TAIL) A portion of an incision, at its beginning or end, which does not go through the whole thickness of the skin, and is more painful than a complete incision; called also tailing.
    24. One of the strips at the end of a bandage formed by splitting the bandage one or more times.
    25. (nauticalCategory:en:Nautical#TAIL) A rope spliced to the strap of a block, by which it may be lashed to anything.
    26. (musicCategory:en:Music#TAIL) The part of a note which runs perpendicularly upward or downward from the head; the stem.[1]
    27. (miningCategory:en:Mining#TAIL) A tailing.
    28. (architectureCategory:en:Architecture#TAIL) The bottom or lower portion of a member or part such as a slate or tile.
    29. (colloquialCategory:English colloquialisms#TAIL, datedCategory:English dated terms#TAIL) A tailcoat.
    30. (electrical engineeringCategory:en:Electrical engineering#TAIL) Synonym of pigtail (a short length of twisted electrical wire).
    31. (chemistryCategory:en:Chemistry#TAIL) The final fraction of a distillation run, typically containing impurities and fusel oils.
      Synonym: tailings
      Coordinate terms: head, heart
    Hyponyms
    Derived terms
    Descendants
    Translations
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    See also

    Verb

    tail (third-person singular simple present tails, present participle tailing, simple past and past participle tailed)Category:English lemmas#TAILCategory:English verbs#TAILCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#TAILCategory:Pages with entries#TAILCategory:Pages with 6 entries#TAIL

    1. (architectureCategory:en:Architecture#TAIL) To hold by the end; said of a timber when it rests upon a wall or other support; with in or into
    2. (nauticalCategory:en:Nautical#TAIL) To swing with the stern in a certain direction; said of a vessel at anchor.
    3. To follow or hang to, like a tail; to be attached closely to, as that which can not be evaded.
    4. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#TAIL) To follow and observe surreptitiously.
    5. To pull or draw by the tail.
    Translations

    Etymology 2

    From Anglo-NormanCategory:English terms derived from Anglo-Norman#TAIL, probably from a shortened form of entail.

    Adjective

    tailCategory:English lemmas#TAILCategory:English adjectives#TAILCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#TAILCategory:Pages with entries#TAILCategory:Pages with 6 entries#TAIL

    1. (lawCategory:en:Law#TAIL) Limited; abridged; reduced; curtailed.
      estate tail

    Noun

    tailCategory:English lemmas#TAILCategory:English nouns#TAILCategory:English nouns with unknown or uncertain plurals#TAILCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#TAILCategory:Pages with entries#TAILCategory:Pages with 6 entries#TAIL

    1. (lawCategory:en:Law#TAIL) Limitation of inheritance to certain heirs.
      tail malelimitation to male heirsCategory:English terms with collocations#TAIL
      in tailsubject to such a limitationCategory:English terms with collocations#TAIL

    References

    1. 1852, John Weeks Moore, Complete Encyclopædia of Music

    Anagrams

    Category:en:Buttocks#TAILCategory:en:Genitalia#TAILCategory:en:Espionage#TAILCategory:en:Sex#TAIL

    Chinese

    Etymology

    ClippingCategory:Cantonese clippings#TAIL of EnglishCategory:Cantonese terms derived from English#TAIL detail.

    Pronunciation


    Category:Chinese lemmas#tailCategory:Cantonese lemmas#tailCategory:Chinese adjectives#tailCategory:Cantonese adjectives#tailCategory:Chinese terms with IPA pronunciation#tailCategory:Chinese terms written in foreign scripts#tail

    Adjective

    tailCategory:Chinese lemmas#TAILCategory:Chinese adjectives#TAILCategory:Chinese entries with incorrect language header#TAILCategory:Pages with entries#TAILCategory:Pages with 6 entries#TAIL

    1. (Hong Kong CantoneseCategory:Hong Kong Cantonese#TAIL) detailed

    Synonyms

    Emilian

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    tail f plCategory:Emilian non-lemma forms#TAILCategory:Emilian noun forms#TAILCategory:Emilian entries with incorrect language header#TAILCategory:Pages with entries#TAILCategory:Pages with 6 entries#TAIL

    1. plural of taila

    Middle English

    Noun

    tailCategory:Middle English lemmas#TAILCategory:Middle English nouns#TAILCategory:Middle English entries with incorrect language header#TAILCategory:Pages with entries#TAILCategory:Pages with 6 entries#TAIL

    1. alternative form of tayl

    Sundanese

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    tail (Sundanese script ᮒᮄᮜ᮪)Category:Sundanese lemmas#TAILCategory:Sundanese nouns#TAILCategory:Sundanese entries with incorrect language header#TAILCategory:Pages with entries#TAILCategory:Pages with 6 entries#TAIL

    1. tael (A unit of weight corresponding to about 40 grams)

    References

    Category:su:Units of measure#TAIL

    Welsh

    Etymology

    This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.
    Particularly: “GPC says Inherited from Middle WelshCategory:Welsh terms inherited from Middle Welsh#TAILCategory:Welsh terms derived from Middle Welsh#TAIL teil, unclear on more distant etymology”
    Category:Requests for etymologies in Welsh entries#TAIL

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    tail m (usually uncountable, plural teiliau)Category:Welsh lemmas#TAILCategory:Welsh nouns#TAILCategory:Welsh countable nouns#TAILCategory:Welsh uncountable nouns#TAILCategory:Welsh entries with incorrect language header#TAILCategory:Welsh masculine nouns#TAILCategory:Pages with entries#TAILCategory:Pages with 6 entries#TAIL

    1. manure, dung
      Synonyms: tom, carthion, cach, gwrtaith

    Derived terms

    • teilo (to spread manure)

    Mutation

    Mutated forms of tail
    radical soft nasal aspirate
    tail dail nhail thail

    Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
    All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

    Further reading

    • D. G. Lewis, N. Lewis, editors (2005–present), “tail”, in Gweiadur: the Welsh–English Dictionary, Gwerin
    • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “tail”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
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