Word.ws English Dictionary

Enchelei

Enchelei noun: an ancient Illyrian tribe inhabiting Enchele.

Noun

Enchelei pl (plural only)

  1. (historical, plural, plural-only) An ancient Illyrian tribe inhabiting Enchele.

Forms of Enchelei

alternative formEncheleii

Origin of Enchelei

From Ancient Greek Ἐγχέλιοι (Enkhélioi), from ἔγχελυς (énkhelus, “eel”). Possibly from the Illyrian cognate of the word, itself closely related to Albanian ngjalë (“eel”). This is made further plausible by the word being found with a -γγ- (-ng-) in place of -γχ- (-nkh-) in Mnaseas. The demonym can be traced back to mythology, where Cadmus, become king of this people, turns into a serpent.

Questions about Enchelei

What does Enchelei mean?
Enchelei means an ancient Illyrian tribe inhabiting Enchele.
What part of speech is Enchelei?
Enchelei is a noun.

Words near Enchelei in the dictionary

  1. encheering
  2. encheers
  3. encheiridia
  4. encheiridion
  5. Enchele
  6. Enchelei
  7. enchest
  8. enchested
  9. enchesting
  10. enchests
  11. enchilada

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Enchelei (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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