Word.ws English Dictionary

martel

/ˈmɑːtəl/

martel noun: a hammer, especially a war hammer.

Noun

martel (plural martels)

  1. A hammer, especially a war hammer.

Verb

martel (third-person singular simple present martels, present participle (US) marteling or (UK) martelling, simple past and past participle (US) marteled or (UK) martelled)

  1. (obsolete) To strike a blow with, or as with, a hammer.
    • Her dreadfull weapon she to him addrest,
      Which on his helmet martelled so hard
      That made him low incline his lofty crest,
      And bowd his battred visour to his brest1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

Proper noun capitalized: Martel

Martel (plural Martels)

  1. A surname.

Synonyms of martel

Forms of martel

Noun
pluralmartels
Verb
third-person singular presentmartels
present participle USmarteling
present participle UKmartelling
past participle USmarteled
past USmarteled
past participle UKmartelled
past UKmartelled
Proper noun
pluralMartels

Origin of martel

From Middle English martel, from Old French martel m (modern French marteau m), from Late Latin martellus m, from Latin martulus m, a variant of marculus m (“small hammer”).

Questions about martel

What does martel mean?
Martel means a hammer, especially a war hammer.
What part of speech is martel?
Martel can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce martel?
Martel is pronounced /ˈmɑːtəl/ (UK).
What is the plural of martel?
The plural of martel is martels.

Words near martel in the dictionary

  1. marteau
  2. marteaux
  3. martech
  4. martechs
  5. marted
  6. martel
  7. martel de fer
  8. Martelange
  9. marteline
  10. martelines
  11. Martell

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: martel (page history and authors); Martel (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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