nail

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The hard, thin covering at the end of a finger or toe.

   When I'm nervous I bite my nails.

2. 2
   noun

   A thin, pointed piece of metal hammered into wood to fasten things together.

   He hammered a nail into the wall to hang the picture.

3. 3
   verb

   To fasten something with a nail or nails.

   He nailed the sign to the post.

4. 4
   verb

   To succeed at something perfectly or exactly.

   She nailed the audition and got the lead role.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Nail is inherited from Old English, where it already had both principal modern meanings: a fingernail and a small metal spike.

From Middle English nail, nayl, Old English næġl, from Proto-West Germanic *nagl, from Proto-Germanic *naglaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃nogʰ- (“nail”). Cognates Compare North Frisian Nail (“nail”), Saterland Frisian Nail (“nail”), West Frisian neil, Low German Nagel, Dutch nagel, German Nagel, Danish negl, Swedish nagel, Finnish naula (“nail”), Estonian nael (“nail”), (compare Irish ionga, Latin unguis, Albanian nyell (“ankle, hard part of a limb”), Lithuanian nagas, Russian нога́ (nogá, “foot, leg”), но́готь (nógotʹ, “nail”), Ancient Greek ὄνυξ (ónux), Persian ناخن (nâxon), Sanskrit नख (na…

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary