# bell
## English
### Pronunciation

* enPR: bĕl, IPA: /bɛl/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛl
* Homophone: belle

### Etymology 1

From Middle English belle, from Old English belle (“bell”), from Proto-Germanic *bellǭ. Cognate with West Frisian belle, bel, Dutch bel, Low German Belle, Bel, Danish bjelde, Swedish bjällra, Norwegian bjelle, Icelandic bjalla.

#### Noun

bell (plural bells)
* (music) A percussive instrument made of metal or other hard material, typically but not always in the shape of an inverted cup with a flared rim, which resonates when struck.
** 1848, Edgar Allan Poe, The Bells:HEAR the sledges with the bells — Silver bells! What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
** 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 269, about a school in Lower Peover:The bell which called the pupils to their lessons can still be seen on the roof.
* An instrument that emits a ringing sound, situated on a bicycle's handlebar and used by the cyclist to warn of their presence.
* The sounding of a bell as a signal.
** 2011 December 18, Ben Dirs, “Carl Froch outclassed by dazzling Andre Ward”, in BBC Sport‎:Referee Steve Smoger was an almost invisible presence in the ring as both men went at it, although he did have a word with Froch when he landed with a shot after the bell at the end of the eighth.
* (chiefly British, informal) A telephone call.
    I’ll give you a bell later.
* A signal at a school that tells the students when a class is starting or ending.
* (music) The flared end of a brass or woodwind instrument.
* (nautical) Any of a series of strokes on a bell (or similar), struck every half hour to indicate the time (within a four hour watch)
* The flared end of a pipe, designed to mate with a narrow spigot.
* (computing) The bell character.
    Synonyms: alert, beep, \a
* Anything shaped like a bell, such as the cup or corolla of a flower.
** 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:In a cowslip's bell I lie.
* (architecture) The part of the capital of a column included between the abacus and neck molding; also used for the naked core of nearly cylindrical shape, assumed to exist within the leafage of a capital.
* (Scotland, archaic) A bubble.
** 1828, James Hogg, Mary Burnet:He swam to the place where Mary disappeared but there was neither boil nor gurgle on the water, nor even a bell of departing breath, to mark the place where his beloved had sunk.
* (British, vulgar, slang) Clipping of bell-end (“stupid or contemptible person”).

##### Synonyms

* (in heraldry): campane
* (rare): tintinnabule

##### Hyponyms

* bicycle bell
* bridle-bell
* campana
* campane
* campanel, campanella
* cascabel
* church bell
* codon
* corrigiunculum, corrigiuncula
* crotal
* curfew, curfew-bell
* dinner-bell
* doorbell
* dupla
* handbell
* jingle bell
* nola
* peal
* petasius
* signum, signum bell
* squilla
* tintinnabulum
* tocsin
* vesper, vesper-bell
* yong bell

##### Meronyms

* (internally suspended tool for striking): clapper, tongue
* (flaring open end): mouth

##### Holonyms

* (structure housing bells): bell tower, campanile
* (sets of bells): carillon, peal

##### Coordinate terms

* alarm
* buzz
* buzzer
* chime
* curfew
* ding-dong
* dinger
* gong
* peal
* ringer
* siren
* tocsin
* toll

##### Derived terms

* agogo bell
* alarm bell
* alarm-bell
* altar bell
* Angelus bell
* bear away the bell
* bear the bell
* bell animalcule
* bell arch
* Bell Bar
* bell-bearer
* bellbind
* bell-bind
* bellbird
* bell, book and candle
* bell-bottom, bell-bottomed
* bell-bottomed trousers
* bell-bottoms
* bell bottoms
* bell-bottom trousers
* bellbox
* bell boy
* bellboy
* bell buoy
* bell button
* bell captain
* bellcast
* bell character
* bell chord
* bell-collar
* bell cot
* bellcote
* bell cow
* bellcrank
* bell crank
* bell curve
* bell curve god
* bell deck
* belldom
* belled
* bell-end
* bell end
* bell-faced
* bellflower
* bell-founder
* bell founder
* bellfounder
* bellfounding
* bell frog
* bell gable
* bell-gable
* bellgirl
* bell glide
* Bell Green
* bell heather
* bellhop
* bellhopper
* bell hopper
* bell-horse
* bellhouse
* bell housing
* Bell Island
* bellist
* bell jar
* bell lerp
* belllike
* bell-like
* bell lyra
* bell lyre
* bellmaker
* bellmaking
* bellman
* bell metal
* bell miner (Manorina melanophrys)
* bellmouth
* bell-mouthed
* bell pepper
* bellperson
* bell pit
* bellpull
* bell-pull
* bell punch
* bellpush
* bell push
* bell ringer
* bell-ringing
* bellringing
* bell rope
* bells and smells, smells and bells
* bells and whistles
* bell-shaped
* bell sleeve
* bell-tent
* bell tent
* bell the cat
* bell-topper
* bell tower
* bell trap
* bell tree
* bell up
* bellwether
* bell-wether
* bellwoman
* bell work
* bellwort
* bluebell
* calling bell
* Canterbury bells
* cap and bells
* Christmas bells
* church bell
* clear as a bell
* coral bells, coralbells, coral-bells (Heuchera)
* cow bell
* cowbell
* da bell
* dead bell
* death bell
* dinner bell
* diving-bell
* diving bell
* diving bell spider
* division bell
* door-bell
* doorbell
* dressing-bell
* dumb-bell
* dumbbell
* engine bell
* firebell
* fog bell
* forebell
* give someone a bell
* handbell
* harebell (Campanula rotundifolia)
* hawkbell
* heather-bell
* hell's bells
* horse-bell
* jingle bell
* joy-bell
* joy bell
* kettlebell
* larum-bell
* leper's bell
* lose the bell
* low-bell
* lowbell
* lych bell
* magnetobell
* market bell
* Mass bell
* merrybell
* mindfulness bell
* minute bell
* monkey's dinner bell
* mort bell
* mountain bell (Darwinia)
* mule bell
* Oconee bells
* on a bell
* passing-bell
* passing bell
* peal of bells
* pull the other one, it's got bells on
* ring a bell
* ring of bells
* ring one's bell
* ring someone's bell
* Roanoke bells
* sacring bell
* sacring-bell
* saints' bell
* sance bell
* sanctus bell
* sandbell
* save by the bell
* saved by the bell
* seven bells
* sheep-bell
* ship's bells
* shop-bell
* silverbell
* Six Bells
* skellet bell
* sledgebell
* sleigh bell
* sleighbell
* snowbell
* soul bell
* sound as a bell
* sunnybell
* swimming bell
* telephone-bell
* tubular bells
* undern-bell
* unring a bell
* warning bell
* wedding bells
* wind-bell
* windbell
* with bells on
* yellow bells
* you can't unring a bell

##### Descendants

* → Fiji Hindi: belo
* → Japanese: ベル (beru)
* → Korean: 벨 (bel)

##### 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

* (study of bells): campanology
* (expert in bells): campanist, campanologist
* (player of bells): bell-ringer, carilloner, carilloneur, carillonist, ringer, tintinnabulary, tintinnabulist
* (playing of bells): bell-ringing, tintinnabulation, tintinnabulism, tintinnation
* (bell-related): campanistic, campanologic, campanarian, tintinnabular, tintinnabular, tintinnabulary, tintinnabulatory, tintinnabulous
* (related to a peal of bells or bell tower): campanilian
* (bell-shaped): bell-shaped, campanal, campaniform, campaniliform, campanular, campanulate, campanulated, campanulous, tintinnabulate
* (containing bells): campaned
* (sounding like a small bell): jingling, tinkling, tintinnabulant, tintinnabulating, tintinnating

#### Verb

bell (third-person singular simple present bells, present participle belling, simple past and past participle belled)
* (transitive) To attach a bell to.
    Who will bell the cat?
* (transitive) To shape so that it flares out like a bell.
    to bell a tube
* (slang, transitive) To telephone.
** 2006, Dominic Lavin, Last Seen in Bangkok:"Vinny, you tosser, it's Keith. I thought you were back today. I'm in town. Bell us on the mobile.
* (intransitive) To develop bells or corollas; to take the form of a bell; to blossom.
    Hops bell.

##### See also

* bell out

### Etymology 2

From Middle English bellen, from Old English bellan (“to bellow; make a hollow noise; roar; bark; grunt”), from Proto-Germanic *bellaną (“to sound; roar; bark”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to sound; roar; bark”). Cognate with Scots bell (“to shout; speak loudly”), Dutch bellen (“to ring”), German Low German bellen (“to ring”), German bellen (“to bark”), Swedish böla (“to low; bellow; roar”).

#### Verb

bell (third-person singular simple present bells, present participle belling, simple past and past participle belled)
* (intransitive) To bellow or roar.
** 1774, Oliver Goldsmith, A History of the Earth, and Animated Nature:This animal is said to harbour in the place where he resides. When he cries, he is said to bell; the print of his hoof is called the slot; his tail is called the single; his excrement the fumet; his horns are called his head [...].
** 1894 May, Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published June 1894, →OCLC:As the dawn was breaking the Sambhur belled / Once, twice and again!
** 1872, Robert Browning, Fifine at the Fair‎:You acted part so well, went alɬ-fours upon earth / The live-long day, brayed, belled.
** 1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber and Faber, published 2005, page 128:Then, incredibly, a rutting stag belled by the trunks.
* (transitive) To utter in a loud manner; to thunder forth.
** 1591, Edmund Spenser, Astrophel:Their leaders bell their bleating tunes In doleful sound.

##### Derived terms

* belling

##### Translations
#### Noun

bell (plural bells)
* The bellow or bay of certain animals, such as a hound on the hunt or a stag in rut.

##### Translations
## Catalan
### Etymology

Inherited from Latin bellus. Compare Occitan bèll, bèu, French beau, Spanish bello.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈbeʎ]
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -eʎ
* Homophone: vell

### Adjective

bell (feminine bella, masculine plural bells, feminine plural belles)
* (literary or dialectal) beautiful
    Synonyms: ben plantat, bonic, bufó, formós, maco, preciós

#### Usage notes

* Disused in most dialects because of its homophony with vell (“old”), but still frequently found in literary texts.

#### Derived terms

* bellament
* bellesa
* belles arts
* embellir

### Further reading

* “bell” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “bell”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
* “bell” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
* “bell” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

## Chinese
### Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

### Pronunciation

* Cantonese (Jyutping): beu$^6$
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: beu$^6$
*** Cantonese Pinyin: beu$^6$
*** Sinological IPA : /pɛːu̯²²/

### Verb

bell
* (Cantonese) to nudge; to shove
** 2015, “Happy Tummy Dance”‎ (TV advertisement):
       ngo$^5$ jiu$^3$ ngo$^5$ ge$^3$ tou$^5$ zai$^2$, mui$^5$ jat$^6$ bin$^3$ fit$^1$ di$^1$, beu$^6$ jau$^6$ jau$^6$ beu$^6$ zo$^2$, coeng$^{4-2}$ dou$^6$ gin$^6$ hong$^1$ di$^1$ [Jyutping]
       (please add an English translation of this usage example)

#### Derived terms

* bell開 / bell开 (Cantonese)
* 鬆bell bell / 松bell bell (Cantonese)

### References

* Bolton, Kingsley, Hutton, Christopher (2005) A Dictionary of Cantonese Slang: The Language of Hong Kong Movies, Street Gangs and City Life, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, →ISBN, page 19

## German
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Verb

bell
* singular imperative of bellen
* (colloquial) first-person singular present of bellen

## Maltese
### Etymology

From Arabic بَلَّ (balla).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /bɛll/

### Verb

bell (imperfect jbell, past participle miblul)
* to dip (immerse something shortly or partly into a liquid)

#### Conjugation
## Old English
### Noun

bell f
* Alternative form of belle

## Welsh
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /bɛɬ/
* (South Wales, also) IPA: /beːɬ/

### Adjective

bell
* Soft mutation of pell.

### Mutation

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