snail
/sneɪl/
snail noun: any of very many animals (either hermaphroditic or nonhermaphroditic), of the class Gastropoda, having a coiled shell.
Noun
snail (plural snails)
- Any of very many animals (either hermaphroditic or nonhermaphroditic), of the class Gastropoda, having a coiled shell.
- ‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared. […]’1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
- A slow person; a sluggard.
- A spiral cam, or a flat piece of metal of spirally curved outline, used for giving motion to, or changing the position of, another part, as the hammer tail of a striking clock.
- A tortoise or testudo; a movable roof or shed to protect besiegers.
- The pod of the snail clover.
- A locomotive with a prime mover but no traction motors, used to provide extra electrical power to another locomotive.
Verb
snail (third-person singular simple present snails, present participle snailing, simple past and past participle snailed)
snail meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
snail in Hindi
- any animal of the class Gastropoda having a shell
- घोंगा ghoṅgā
snail in Tamil
- any animal of the class Gastropoda having a shell
- நத்தை nattai
snail in Marathi
- any animal of the class Gastropoda having a shell
- गोगलगाय gogalgāy
snail in Urdu
- any animal of the class Gastropoda having a shell
- گھون٘گا ghoṅgā, حَلْزُون halzūn
More languagesFewer languages
- snail in Bengali
- শামুক śamuk
- snail in Telugu
- నత్త natta
- snail in Malayalam
- ഒച്ച് occŭ
- snail in Kannada
- ಬಸವನ ಹುಳು basavana huḷu, ಶಂಬುಕ śambuka
- snail in Punjabi
- ਘੋਗਾ ghogā
- snail in Gujarati
- ગોકળગાય gokaḷgāy
- snail in Sanskrit
- शम्बूक śambūka
- snail in Sinhala
- ගොළුබෙලි goḷubeli
- snail in Assamese
- শামুক xamuk
- snail in Pashto
- غوابيژه ǧwābíža, غوابيژی ǧwābížay, غواګۍ ǧwāgǝ́y
- snail in Tagalog
- kuhol
- snail in Arabic
- حَلَزُون ḥalazūn
- snail in Malay
- siput
- snail in Indonesian
- bekicot, keong, siput
- snail in Thai
- หอยทาก hɔ̌i-tâak
- snail in Vietnamese
- ốc
- snail in Myanmar
- ခရုပက်ကျိ hka.ru.pakkyi., ပက်ကျိ pakkyi.
Examples of snail in a sentence
- The consumption of snails as food is more common in France than in England.
- The official notice will be sent via both email and snail mail owing to legal requirements.
- The garden snail, a blue-blooded land animal, is sometimes seen as food, sometimes as pest.
Synonyms of snail
Forms of snail
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | snails |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | snails |
| present participle | snailing |
| past participle | snailed |
| past | snailed |
Origin of snail
From Middle English snayl, snail, from the Old English sneġel, from Proto-Germanic *snagilaz. Cognate with Low German Snagel, Snâel, Snâl (“snail”), German Schnegel (“slug”). Compare also Old Norse snigill, from Proto-Germanic *snigilaz.
Words formed from snail
- achatine snail
- African snail
- agate snail
- amber snail
- ambersnail
- apple snail
- Australian snail
- awl snail
- Badwater snail
- bonnet snail
- boulder snail
- bristle snail
- brown-lipped snail
- brown snail
- bubble snail
- Burgundy snail
- carrier snail
- cheese snail
- Chinese hat snail
- cinnamon snail
- cone snail
- decollate snail
- dew snail
- domed land snail
- door snail
- ear snail
- edible snail
- emerald green snail
- Finger Snail
- flying snail
- garden snail
- giant African land snail
- giant snail
- glass snail
- green snail
- grove snail
- harp snail
- helmet snail
- housesnail
- Japanese snail
- land snail
- Lister's river snail
- looping snail
- microsnail
- milk snail
- moon snail
- Moorean viviparous tree snail
- mud snail
- mudsnail
- murex snail
- mystery snail
- Newcomb's snail
- olive snail
- palm-leaf snail
- pebblesnail
- Polynesian tree snail
- pond snail
- purple storm snail
- rack and snail
- ramshorn snail
Phrases with snail
- sea snail
- top snail
- slug snail
- snail bean
- snail king
- snail kite
- snail mail
- snail pace
- snail vine
- wing snail
- river snail
- Roman snail
28 more phrasesFewer phrases
- snail beans
- snail fever
- snail kings
- snail kites
- snail paces
- snail shell
- snail syrup
- snail trail
- tulip snail
- valve snail
- water snail
- whorl snail
- snail butter
- snail clover
- snail darter
- snail shells
- turban snail
- violet snail
- snail clovers
- snail darters
- snail trefoil
- Spanish snail
- snail trefoils
- slow as a snail
- strawberry snail
- shoulderband snail
- white-lipped snail
- Utah roundmouth snail
Words that rhyme with snail
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- veil
- pale
- avail
- wale
- whale
- bail
- hail
- yale
- bale
- travail
- brail
- exhale
- frail
- jail
- prevail
- swale
- vail
- wail
- derail
- dwale
- entail
- flail
- Gail
- gayle
- impale
- kale
- quail
- regale
- spale
- thumbnail
- white whale
- ale
- curtail
- drail
- gale
- inhale
- retail
- shale
- tael
- unveil
- ail
- all hail
- assail
- ayel
- beyond the pale
- braille
- cakes and ale
- camail
Questions about snail
- What does snail mean?
- Snail means any of very many animals (either hermaphroditic or nonhermaphroditic), of the class Gastropoda, having a coiled shell.
- What is snail in Hindi?
- Snail in Hindi is घोंगा (ghoṅgā). See Snail meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is snail?
- Snail can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce snail?
- Snail is pronounced /sneɪl/.
- What is the plural of snail?
- The plural of snail is snails.
Words near snail in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: snail (page history and authors); ਘੋਗਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ગોકળગાય (Gujarati) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-snail.ogg.
Cite this entry: “snail.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/snail. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.