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Etymology and origin of the English word ell

Pronunciation

ell1 measure of length

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
West Saxon Gospels
Inherited from
Old English eln via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *alinō

Etymology

The word for the measure is inherited from Middle English elne, later elle,[2][3] inherited from Old English eln,[4][2][5][6] which originally meant the forearm or the length of the arm.[2][7][8] It comes from Proto-Germanic *alinō,[9][10] and is cognate with Old Frisian elne, Old Saxon elina, Old High German elina (modern German Elle), Middle Dutch elne (modern Dutch el), Old Norse ǫln and Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰 (aleina, “cubit, ell”).[2][5][9][6] From the Germanic word came Medieval Latin alena and French aune.[4][11] It is related to Latin ulna (“elbow, arm, ell”) and Ancient Greek ὠλένη (ōlénē, “elbow”),[2][10][5] and Barnhart adds Middle Irish uillind (“elbow”) and Welsh elin (“elbow”), from Proto-Indo-European *el- (“to bend”).[2] Kroonen reconstructs *Heh₃l-én-eh₂- for the Germanic and Latin words.[9] The later forms with a double l come from an assimilation of the older l followed by n.[2][5] The first part of elbow is the same word.[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A measure of length: in Old English, in the West Saxon Gospels.[4][12] Bosworth–Toller defines it as the space from the point of the elbow to the end of the middle finger.[12]

Semantic evolution

As a measure the ell varied with whose arm was used and whether it was taken from the shoulder or the elbow; the modern English ell of 45 inches seems to have been fixed in Tudor times.[7] The Scottish ell was 37.2 inches and the Flemish 27.[4][7] Johnson (1755) defined it as forty-five inches, a yard and a quarter, and noted that it was used proverbially for a long measure.[13] Contrasted with an inch, it appears from 1546 in the proverb give him an inch and he'll take an ell,[4] and Etymonline quotes an inch of liberty and an ell taken afterwards from 1580.[7] From 1474 to 1768 an ell was also a measuring rod, and to measure with the long or the short ell was to measure unfairly.[4] Weekley notes that the word survives chiefly in such references to the inch and the ell.[11]

Timeline

  • Old English – a measure of length.[4][12]
  • c. 1250 – elne, in The Story of Genesis and Exodus.[2]
  • c. 1330 – the form elle.[2]
  • 1474 – a measuring rod (obsolete by 1768).[4]
  • 1546 – in contrast with an inch, in the proverb.[4]
  • 1615 – the larger bone of the forearm, rendering Latin ulna (obsolete by 1634).[4]
  • 1649 – a measure for liquids.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (historical) An English unit of length, used mainly for cloth, equal to 45 inches.[3][8][4]
  2. Any of various similar units elsewhere, such as the Flemish ell of about 27 inches or the Scottish ell of about 37 inches.[3][4]
  3. give someone an inch and they'll take an ell: allow a little and more will be taken.[4][13]

ell2 wing at right angles

Confidence
Established
First attested
1773 Boston town records
Ultimate origin
English el

Etymology

The word for the wing of a building is from English from el, the spelled name of the letter L,[4][5][3][2] so called from the likeness of such a wing to the shape of the capital letter.[2][7] Dictionary.com also suggests a shortening of elbow.[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

An extension of a building at right angles to it: 1773, in the records of Boston, as an American word.[4][2][7] Barnhart finds the letter-name earlier for an L-shaped mark cut in a horse's ear (1688).[2]

Semantic evolution

The Shorter Oxford labels the word dialectal and American, and adds the sense of a lean-to.[5] Collins and Merriam-Webster Unabridged also use it for a pipe fitting bent at a right angle, an elbow;[8][3] Collins dates the word to the 20th century.[8]

Timeline

  • 1773 – an extension of a building at right angles to it.[4][2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An extension or wing of a building at right angles to the main part.[3][8][5]
  2. A pipe fitting or tube bent at a right angle; an elbow.[8][3]
  3. The letter L; an el.[3][5]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  10. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  11. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House

Related etymologies

  • wrack · also from Old English
  • restless · also from Old English
  • whelp · also from Old English
  • vane · also from Old English
  • reek · also from Old English
  • writhe · also from Old English
  • Monday · also from Old English
  • mallow · also from Old English
Cite this entry

“Ell.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/ell. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

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