quell
/kwɛl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.00 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To subdue, put down, or silence (someone or something); to force (someone) to submit.
Transitive verb
verb
To die.
noun
A subduing.
noun
A source, especially a spring.
Example Sentences
- "The nation obeyed the call, rallied round the sovereign, and enabled him to quell the disaffected minority."
- "Northward marching to quell the sudden revolt."
- "to quell grief"
- "to quell the tumult of the soul"
- "However, after quelling Burnley's threat, Southampton failed to build on their growing danger culminating in Tadic's missed penalty."
- "Like barbarous miſcreants, they quelled Virgins vnto death, […]"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH-der. Proto-Germanic *kwelaną Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Germanic *-janą Proto-Germanic *kwaljaną Proto-West Germanic *kwalljan Old English cwellan Middle English quellen English quell From Middle English quellen, from Old English cwellan (“to kill”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwalljan, from Proto-Germanic *kwaljaną (“to make die; kill”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH-. Cognate with German quälen (“to torment; agonise; smite”), Swedish kvälja (“to torment”), Icelandic kvelja (“to torture; torment”). Compare also Old Armenian կեղ (keł, “sore, ulcer”), Old Church Slavonic жаль (žalĭ, “pain”). See also kill, which may be its doublet.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: quellen, cwellan, *kwalljan, *kwaljaną, *gʷelH-, *quelle
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /kwɛl/
- British English: /kwɛl/
Usage
Inflected Forms
quells (present, singular)
quelling (participle, present)
quelled (participle, past)
quelled (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
quelled (first person, past)
quellest (archaic, present)
quelled (past, second person)
quelledst (archaic, past)
quelleth (archaic, present)
quelled (past, singular)