# nail
## English
### Pronunciation

* enPR: nāl, IPA: /neɪl/, [neɪ̯ɫ]
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -eɪl

### Etymology 1

From Middle English nail, nayl, Old English næġl, from Proto-West Germanic *nagl, from Proto-Germanic *naglaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃nogʰ- (“nail”).
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 (nakhá).

#### Noun

nail (plural nails)
* The thin, horny plate at the ends of fingers and toes on humans and some other animals.
    When I'm nervous I bite my nails.
* The basal thickened portion of the anterior wings of certain hemiptera.
* The terminal horny plate on the beak of ducks, and other allied birds.
* The claw of a bird or other animal.
* A spike-shaped metal fastener used for joining wood or similar materials. The nail is generally driven through two or more layers of material by means of impacts from a hammer or other device. It is then held in place by friction.
** 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.
* A round pedestal on which merchants once carried out their business, such as the four nails outside The Exchange, Bristol.
* An archaic English unit of length equivalent to $^1$⁄$_{20}$ of an ell or $^1$⁄$_{16}$ of a yard (2+$^1$⁄$_4$ inches or 5.715 cm).

##### Derived terms

* another nail in someone's coffin
* another nail in the coffin
* bed of nails
* better than a poke in the eye with a rusty nail
* bite one's nails
* brass nail
* bright nail
* bullen-nail
* casing nail
* chew on one's nails
* clout-nail
* clout nail
* coffin nail
* common nail
* cut nail
* door-nail
* door nail, doornail
* drive a nail in someone's coffin
* drive a nail where it will go
* dumb as nails
* duplex nail
* eight-penny nail
* eightpenny nail
* eight penny nail
* final nail in the coffin
* fingernail
* finger nail
* finish nail
* four penny nail
* four-penny nail
* fourpenny nail
* frost nail
* frost-nail
* garden nail
* gimp nail
* green nail syndrome
* hand-nail
* hangnail
* hard as nails
* hard nail
* hit the nail on the head
* horsenail
* horse-nail
* horseshoe nail
* jolt head nail
* Küntscher nail
* last nail in the coffin
* lath nail
* mad enough to chew nails
* nail ball
* nail bar
* nail bat
* nail bed, nailbed
* nail biter
* nail-biter
* nail biting, nailbiting (noun)
* nail-biting, nailbiting (adjective)
* nail bomb
* nailbrush
* nailcare
* nail clipper
* nail cutter
* nail enamel
* nail file, nail-file, nailfile
* nail fungus
* nail gun
* nail-headed
* nail header
* nail house
* nail in one's coffin
* nail knot
* nail lacquer
* nail-making
* nail-patella syndrome
* nail plate
* nail polish
* nail-polished
* nail puller
* nail punch
* nail rod
* nail scissors
* nail set
* nail sick
* nail sickness
* nails on a chalkboard
* nail-tail wallaby
* nail technician
* nail trimmer
* nail varnish
* nail violin
* one nail drives out another
* on the nail
* PK nail
* roofing nail
* rose nail
* rother nail
* rusty nail
* sandpapered nails
* screw nail
* scupper nail
* shell nail syndrome
* sinker nail
* six penny nail
* six-penny nail
* sixpenny nail
* sixteenpenny nail
* sixteen-penny nail
* sixteen penny nail
* soil nail
* spit nails
* squint like a bag of nails
* straw nail
* street nail
* stub nail
* ten penny nail
* tenpenny nail
* ten-penny nail
* the nail that sticks out gets hammered down
* toenail
* tooth and nail, tooth-and-nail
* tough as nails
* twelvepenny nail
* twelve penny nail
* twelve-penny nail
* twenty-nail dystrophy
* yellow nail syndrome

##### Translations

Acehnese: gukèë
Afar: lifiq
Afrikaans: nael (af), vingernael
Aklanon: kuku
Albanian: thua (sq) m , thon (sq)(gheg)
Aleut: qagalgiq
Amharic: ጥፍር (ṭəfr)
Arabic: ظُفْر (ar) m (ẓufr)
Chadian Arabic: خنفر (ḵunfar)
Egyptian Arabic: ضفر m (ḍofr)
Hijazi Arabic: ظِفِر m (ḍifir)
Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
Aramaic:
Classical Syriac: ܛܦܪܐ f (ṭep̄rā)
Armenian: եղունգ (hy) (eġung)
Old Armenian: եղունգն (ełungn)
Aromanian: unglji f
Assamese: নখ (nokh)
Asturian: uña (ast) f
Avar: малъ (malˢ)
Azerbaijani: dırnaq (az)
Baluchi: ناکن (nákun), ناہن (náhun)
Bashkir: тырнаҡ (tırnaq)
Basque: azazkal
Bats: მჵაჲრი̆ (m'ayrĭ)
Bau Bidayuh: sirun
Belarusian: пазно́гаць m (paznóhacʹ), но́гаць m (nóhacʹ)
Bengali: নখ (bn) (nokh)
Bezhta: милъо (milˢo)
Bhojpuri: नाखुन (nākhun)
Breton: ivin (br) m, ivinoù (br) pl
Brunei Malay: kuku
Bulgarian: но́кът (bg) m (nókǎt)
Burmese: လက်သည်း (my) (laksany:) (fingernail), ခြေသည်း (my) (hkresany:) (toenail)
Catalan: ungla (ca) f
Cebuano: kuko
Central Dusun: sondulu
Central Melanau: silou
Chechen: мӏара (mˀara)
Cherokee: please add this translation if you can
Chinese:
Dungan: зыҗя (zɨži͡a), җиҗя (žiži͡a)
Mandarin: 指甲 (zh) (zhǐjia), 手指甲 (zh) (shǒuzhǐjia)
Chuvash: пӑта (păt̬a)
Coptic: ⲓⲉⲃ m (ieb)
Cornish: ewin m
Crimean Tatar: tırnaq
Czech: nehet (cs) m
Dalmatian: jongla f
Danish: negl (da)
Dongxiang: ghimusun
Dutch: nagel (nl) m
Egyptian: (ꜥnt f)
Erzya: кенже (kenže)
Esperanto: ungo (eo)
Estonian: küüs (et)
Even: оста (osta)
Evenki: осикта (osikta)
Ewe: please add this translation if you can
Faroese: negl (fo) f
Finnish: kynsi (fi)
Franco-Provençal: ongla f
French: ongle (fr) m
Middle French: ongle m
Old French: ongle m
Friulian: ongule f
Galician: unlla (gl) f, uña (gl) f
Georgian: ფრჩხილი (ka) (prčxili)
German: Nagel (de) m
Greek: νύχι (el) n (nýchi)
Ancient: ὄνυξ m (ónux)
Greenlandic: kukik
Gujarati: નખ (gu) m (nakh)
Haitian Creole: zong (fingernail), zong pye (toenail)
Hawaiian: maiʻao
Hebrew: צִפֹּרֶן / ציפורן (he) f (tzippóren)
Higaonon: sulu
Hindi: नाख़ुन m (nāxun), नख (hi) m (nakh), नाखुन (hi) (nākhun)
Hinukh: молъу (moλu)
Hungarian: köröm (hu)
Hunsrik: Naaghel m, Naal m
Icelandic: nögl (is) f
Ido: unglo (io)
Ilocano: kuko
Indonesian: kuku (id)
Ingush: мӏара (mˀara)
Interlingua: ungue, ungula (ia)
Iranun: kinuku
Irish: ionga (ga) f
Italian: unghia (it) f
Japanese: 爪 (ja) (つめ, tsume)
Javanese: kuku (jv), kanaka
Kannada: ಉಗುರು (kn) (uguru)
Kaqchikel: ixk’äq
Kazakh: тырнақ (kk) (tyrnaq)
Khmer: ក្រចក (km) (krɑcɑɑk)
Kimaragang: sondulu
Korean: 손톱 (ko) (sontop), 발톱 (ko) (baltop) (toenail)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: نینۆک (ckb) (nînok), نیوخان (nîwxan)
Northern Kurdish: nînok (ku) f, neynok (ku) f
Kyrgyz: тырмак (ky) (tırmak)
Lak: михь (mix̂)
Lao: ເລັບ (lo) (lep), ເລັບມື (lep mư̄), ເລັບຕີນ (lep tīn)
Latgalian: nogs m
Latin: unguis
Latvian: nags (lv) m
Ligurian: óngia f
Lithuanian: nagas m
Lombard: ongia (lmo) f, ungia f
Lotud: sondulu
Low German: Nagel (nds) m
German Low German: Nagel (nds), Tengel (Ostfriesland, Oldenburg)
Luxembourgish: Nol m
Macedonian: нокт (mk) m (nokt)
Malay: kuku (ms)
Malayalam: നഖം (ml) (nakhaṁ)
Maltese: difer
Manchu: ᡥᡳᡨᠠᡥᡡᠨ (hitahūn)
Manx: ingin f
Maore Comorian: kofu
Marathi: नख (mr) (nakh)
Megleno-Romanian: ungľă f
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: хумс (mn) (xums)
Mongolian: ᠬᠢᠮᠤᠰᠤ (kimusu)
Nanai: хосакта (hosakta)
Neapolitan: ogna f
Ngazidja Comorian: fuu class 5/6
Northern Altai: тыргак (tïrgak)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: negl (no) m
Nynorsk: nagl m
Occitan: ongla (oc) f, ungla (oc) f
Odia: ନଖ (or) (nakha)
Ojibwe: (my nail) nishlanzh
Old Church Slavonic:
Cyrillic: ногъть m (nogŭtĭ)
Glagolitic: ⱀⱁⰳⱏⱅⱐ m (nogŭtĭ)}
Old East Slavic: ногъть m (nogŭtĭ), пазногъть m (paznogŭtĭ)
Old English: næġl m
Old French: ungle m
Old Javanese: kuku
Old Turkic: 𐱃𐰃𐰺𐰭𐰴 (tïrŋaq)
Oromo: qeensa
Ossetian: ных (nyx)
Ottoman Turkish: طرناق (tırnak), ناخن (nâhun), ظفر (zufr)
Pannonian Rusyn: нохец m (noxec)
Papiamentu: uña
Pashto: نوک (ps) m (nuk)
Pela: laʔ³¹ saŋ³⁵ (fingernail)
Pennsylvania German: Naggel m
Persian:
Dari: نَاخُن (nāxun)
Iranian Persian: ناخُن (nâxon)
Piedmontese: ongia f
Pitjantjatjara: piri
Polish: paznokieć (pl) m
Portuguese: unha (pt) f
Quechua: sillu
Canka Quechua: sillu
Waiwaş Quechua: şillu
Wanka Quechua: şillu
Rohingya: nok
Romanian: unghie (ro) f
Romansch: ungla f (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Surmiran, Puter, Vallader), ùngla f (Sutsilvan)
Rungus: sondullu
Russian: но́готь (ru) m (nógotʹ)
Sabah Bisaya: sindulu
Saho: lific
Sami:
Northern: gazza
Skolt: kõʒʒ
Southern: guehpere
Sanskrit: नख (sa) m or n (nakha)
Sardinian: úgna f
Campidanese: unga f
Saterland Frisian: Nail m
Scottish Gaelic: ìne f
Sebop: cilun
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: но̏кат m
Roman: nȍkat (sh) m
Sicilian: ugna (scn) f
Sinhalese: නියපොතු (niyapotu), ඇඟිලි (æⁿgili), අතැඟිලි (atæⁿgili) (fingernail), පයැඟිලි (payæⁿgili) (toenail)
Slovak: necht (sk) m
Slovene: noht (sl) m
Somali: ciddi
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: nokś m
Upper Sorbian: nochć
Southern Altai: тырмак (tïrmak)
Spanish: uña (es) f, garra (es) f
Swahili: ukucha (sw)
Swedish: nagel (sv) c
Sylheti: ꠘꠃꠈ (noukó)
Tagal Murut: salindu
Tagalog: kuko
Tajik: нохун (tg) (noxun)
Talysh: nanqır
Tamil: நகம் (ta) (nakam)
Tarantino: unghie f
Tarifit: iššar m
Tatar: тырнак (tt) (tırnaq)
Tausug: kukku
Telugu: గోరు (te) (gōru), నఖము (te) (nakhamu)
Tetum: kukun
Thai: เล็บ (th) (lép), เล็บมือ (lép-mʉʉ)
Tibetan: སེན་མོ (sen mo)
Timugon Murut: salindu
Tocharian B: mekwa
Tok Pisin: kapa bilong pinga
Turkish: tırnak (tr)
Turkmen: dyrnak
Udi: мух (muꭓ)
Udmurt: гижы (gižy)
Ukrainian: ні́готь m (níhotʹ)
Urdu: ناخُن m (nāxun)
Uyghur: تىرناق (tirnaq)
Uzbek: tirnoq (uz)
Venetan: ongia (vec) f, onza f
Vietnamese: móng (vi), móng tay
Volapük: nuel (vo)
Walloon: ongue (wa) f
Waray-Waray: kulo
Welsh: ewin (cy) m or f
West Coast Bajau: keku
West Frisian: neil
Western Bukidnon Manobo: sulu
Yagnobi: нахна (naxna)
Yakut: тыҥырах (tıñıraq)
Yiddish: נאָגל m (nogl)
Yurok: 'wehlketeg
Zazaki: nengu (diq), negu, neku
Zulu: uzipho (zu) class 11/10 :

#### See also

* claw
* talon

### Etymology 2

From Middle English naylen, from Old English næġlan.

#### Verb

nail (third-person singular simple present nails, present participle nailing, simple past and past participle nailed)
* (transitive) To fix (an object) to another object using a nail.
    Coordinate terms: pin, rivet, screw; see also Thesaurus:join
    He nailed the placard to the post.
* (intransitive) To drive a nail.
    Synonym: hammer
    He used the ax head for nailing.
* (transitive) To stud or boss with nails, or as if with nails.
** 1700, [John] Dryden, “The Flower and the Leaf: Or, The Lady in the Arbour. A Vision.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:The rivets of their arms were nail'd with gold.
* (slang) To catch.
    Synonyms: arrest, collar, nick; see also Thesaurus:capture
** 1765, “A Song in High Life”, in The Merry Medley, volume 1, London: W. Hoggard, page 35:I pray you now send me some dub, / A bottle or two to the needy. / I beg you won't bring it yourself, / The harman is at the Old-Bailey; / I'd rather you'd send it behalf, / For, if they twig you they'll nail you.
** 1943 October 9, The Australian Women's Weekly, page 3, column 4:Military Intelligence seems to be on the spot in a quiet sort of way. I just met a G-2 slue-foot and he was a most efficient guy! They're keeping low, I think, until they nail their man.
** 1993, Peter M. Lenkov, Robert Reneau, Daniel Waters, Demolition Man, spoken by Captain Healy (Steve Kahan):Dammit, John, I'm tired of this 'Demolition Man' stuff! […] Now, I know you've been trying to nail this psycho for two years, but try remembering a little thing called official police procedure.
** 2005, Lesley, transl. Brown, Sophist, 261a, translation of original by Plato:we'll nail the sophist to it, if we can get him on that charge;
* (transitive, slang) To expose as a sham.
* (transitive, slang) To accomplish (a task) completely and successfully.
    Synonyms: ace, fullbring, fulfill
    Antonym: screw
    I really nailed that test.
** 2023 July 6, Dan Milmo, quoting Mark Zuckerberg, “Zuckerberg uses Threads to say Twitter has missed its chance”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:The chief executive and founder of Meta used his new Threads account to say Twitter had not “nailed” its opportunity to become a mega app and that his copycat version would be “focusing on kindness”.
* (transitive, slang) To hit (a target) effectively with some weapon.
** 2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport‎:Fly-half Ruaridh Jackson departed early with injury but Chris Paterson nailed a penalty from wide out left to give Scotland an early lead, and Jackson's replacement Dan Parks added three more points with a penalty which skimmed over the crossbar.
* (transitive, vulgar, slang) Of a male, to engage in sexual intercourse with.
    Synonyms: dick, pound, rail, screw; see also Thesaurus:copulate with
** 1985, John Hughes, The Breakfast Club (motion picture):Allison Reynolds: I'm a nymphomaniac. […] The only person I told was my shrink. / Andrew Clark: And what did he do when you told him? / Allison Reynolds: He nailed me.
** 1999, Neil Goldman, Garrett Donovan, “Da Boom”, in Family Guy, season 2, episode 3, spoken by Brian Griffin (Seth MacFarlane):There’s a benefit gala at the Boston Pops tonight, and... well, I’m trying to nail the flautist.
* (military) To spike, as a cannon.
** 1598, Robert Barret, he Theorike and Practike of Modern Warres:That the Ordinance be not nayled, nor the munition fiered.
* (transitive) To nail down: to make certain, or confirm.
    Synonyms: clinch, fix, lock down, pin down
* (slang, transitive, obsolete) To steal.
** 1866, Temple Bar, volume 16, page 507:Loud was the laughter at this and other remarks about nailing "stooks" (silk pocket handkerchiefs), "clouts" (cotton ditto), german sausages, &c.

##### Derived terms

* nail it
* nail Jell-O to a tree
* nail Jell-O to a wall
* nail one's colors to the mast
* nail one's colours to the mast
* nail someone to the wall
* nail the hammer on the head
* nail to the counter

##### Translations
#### See also

* Wikipedia disambiguation page on both meanings of nail
* Wikipedia disambiguation page on spike
* Nail in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

### Anagrams

* I-lan, INLA, Ilan, LNAI, Lain, Lani, Lian, Lina, Nila, anil, lain

## Bouyei
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /nɐi˨˦/

### Etymology 1
#### Noun

nail
* grandmother

### Etymology 2
#### Noun

nail
* snow
* ice

## Middle English
### Noun

nail
* Alternative form of nayl

## Turkish
### Etymology

Inherited from Ottoman Turkish نَائِل (nāʾil), from Arabic نَائِل (nāʔil).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /naːˈil/
* Hyphenation: na‧il

### Adjective

nail
* Who does or has receive, obtain, attain.

#### Declension

For negative forms, use the appropriate form of değil.

#### Derived terms

* nail olmak

#### Related terms

* minval
* nevale

### References

* ↑ Redhouse, James W. (1890) “نَائِل”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎, Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 2069
* ↑ Kélékian, Diran (1911) “نَائِل”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎, Constantinople: Mihran, page 1267
* ↑ Şemseddin Sâmi (1899–1901) “نَائِل”, in قاموس تركی [kamus-ı türki] (in Ottoman Turkish), Constantinople: İkdam Matbaası, page 1453
* ↑ Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “nail”, in Nişanyan Sözlük

### Further reading

* “nail”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu
* Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “na’il”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 3479

## Vietnamese
### Etymology

English nail.

### Pronunciation

* (Hà Nội) IPA: [nɛw˧˧]
* (Huế) IPA: [nɛw˧˧]
* (Saigon) IPA: [nɛw˧˧]
* Phonetic spelling: neo
* Homophone: neo

### Noun

nail
* nailcare
    làm nail ― perform nailcare
    nghề nail ― nailcare as a profession
** 2022, T.TH, “Kình ngư Nguyễn Hữu Kim Sơn chọn ĐH Duy Tân làm bến đỗ”, in Tuổi trẻ online‎:Hiện tại ba em đang quản lý một nhà hàng cùng một tiệm nail khá lớn ở Mỹ, do chính ba mở ra.My father currently manages a restaurant and a rather large nail salon in America, which he opened himself.

## Welsh
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /nai̯l/

### Noun

nail
* Nasal mutation of dail.

### Mutation

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