coil

C2+ Topic:General Vocabulary

US /kɔɪl/ UK /kɔɪl/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a length of something wound into rings; to wind into such loops

The snake began to coil around the warm branch.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a length of something wound... loop spiral twist wind curl spire whorl convolution

Opposites

uncoil unwind straighten

Word family

Derived forms coiledcoilingcoiler

Related forms recoil uncoil

Simplified etymology

Coil entered English in the early 16th century and is traced to Latin colligere, meaning to gather together. The connection is that something coiled up is gathered in a particular way.

Etymology

From Old French coillir 'to collect, gather', from Latin colligere 'to gather together', from com- 'together' + legere 'to gather'.

coillir Old French colligere Latin legere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# coil

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /kɔɪl/
**IPA (UK):** /kɔɪl/

## Meanings
1. a length of something wound into rings; to wind into such loops

## Examples
- The snake began to coil around the warm branch.

## Synonyms
- loop
- spiral
- twist
- wind
- curl
- spire
- whorl
- convolution

## Antonyms
- uncoil
- unwind
- straighten

## Derived Forms
- coiled
- coiling
- coiler

## Related Forms
- recoil
- uncoil

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: coillir
- Root: colligere
- Root: legere

## Etymology
From Old French coillir 'to collect, gather', from Latin colligere 'to gather together', from com- 'together' + legere 'to gather'.

## AI Etymology
Coil comes from Old French coillir 'to collect, gather', from Latin colligere 'to gather together', from com- 'together' + legere 'to gather'. The historical trail runs through coillir in Old French, colligere in Latin, and legere in Latin. Morphologically, coil is transparent: it draws on Old French coillir 'to collect, gather', from Latin colligere 'to gather together', from com- 'together' + legere 'to gather'. Used as a noun and verb, coil now means "a length of something wound into rings; to wind into such loops", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in derived forms such as coiled, coiling, and coiler and related forms such as recoil and uncoil. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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