fasel
fasel verb: to unravel or become frayed. Also the obsolete form of phasel.
Verb
fasel (third-person singular simple present fasels, present participle faselling, simple past and past participle faselled)
- To unravel or become frayed.
- My sleve is fasylled: ma manche est rauelée.1530, John Palsgrove, Lesclarcissement de la Langue Francoyse, Paris: Imprimerie nationale, page 546
- The edges of those pieces which seem inclined to fazzle out must be turned in, and tacked also to the sheeting.1885, “A New Kind of Patchwork”, in Little Folks: A Magazine for the Young, London: Cassel, page 67
- To become confused or ravelled.
- […] which hath fazled and entangled this Controverſie.1636, Thomas Goodwin, A Child of Light Walking in Darkness, London: J. G., page 89
Also used as
fasel is also the obsolete form of phasel.
Forms of fasel
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | fasels |
| present participle | faselling |
| past participle | faselled |
| past | faselled |
| alternative form | fasyll |
| alternative form | fazle |
| Noun | |
| plural | fasels |
Origin of fasel
From Middle English faselen (“to fray”), from fasel (“frayed”, adjective) and fasel (“a frayed edge or border, fringe”, noun), probably a diminutive of Middle English fas (“fringe”), from Old English fæs (“fringe”). Compare Dutch vezel (“fibre, filament”), German faseln (“to ravel out, ramble”). Doublet of pizzle.
Questions about fasel
- What does fasel mean?
- Fasel means to unravel or become frayed.
- What part of speech is fasel?
- Fasel is a verb.
- What is the past tense of fasel?
- The past tense of fasel is faselled.
Words near fasel in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fasel (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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Cite this entry: “fasel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fasel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.