gale

C2 Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ɡeɪl/ See IPA manual

Freq #9508

Meanings

1

noun
A very strong wind.

It's blowing a gale outside, so close the windows.
2

noun
A sudden burst, especially of laughter.

Her joke set off a gale of laughter across the room.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms gales

Derived forms galelikegaleproofnightingale

Related forms galeagegalee

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

near gale
a wind of force seven on the Beaufort scale

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Middle English galen, from Old English galan (“to sing, enchant, call, cry, scream; sing charms, practice incantation”), from Proto-Germanic *galaną (“to roop, sing, charm”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰel- (“to shout, scream, charm away”). Cognate with Danish gale (“to crow”), Swedish gala (“to crow”), Icelandic gala (“to sing, chant, crow”), Dutch galm (“echo, sound, noise”). Related to yell.

*gʰel- Proto-Indo-European galen Middle English galan Old English *galaną Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# gale

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ɡeɪl/
**Frequency rank:** 9508

## Meanings
1. A very strong wind.
2. A sudden burst, especially of laughter.

## Examples
- It's blowing a gale outside, so close the windows.
- Her joke set off a gale of laughter across the room.

## Derived Forms
- galelike
- galeproof
- nightingale

## Related Forms
- galeage
- galee

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *gʰel-
- Root: galen
- Root: galan
- Root: *galaną

## Etymology
From Middle English galen, from Old English galan (“to sing, enchant, call, cry, scream; sing charms, practice incantation”), from Proto-Germanic *galaną (“to roop, sing, charm”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰel- (“to shout, scream, charm away”). Cognate with Danish gale (“to crow”), Swedish gala (“to crow”), Icelandic gala (“to sing, chant, crow”), Dutch galm (“echo, sound, noise”). Related to yell.

## AI Etymology
Gale is from Middle English galen, from Old English galan (“to sing, enchant, call, cry, scream; sing charms, practice incantation”), from Proto-Germanic *galaną (“to roop, sing, charm”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰel- (“to shout, scream, charm away”). Cognate with Danish gale (“to crow”), Swedish gala (“to crow”), Icelandic gala (“to sing, chant, crow”), Dutch galm (“echo, sound, noise”). Related to yell. Important recorded forms include *gʰel- (Proto-Indo-European), galen (Middle English), galan (Old English), and *galaną (Proto-Germanic). Current senses include a very strong wind and a sudden burst, especially of laughter. The wider family includes derived forms such as galelike, galeproof, and nightingale; related words such as galeage and galee.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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