Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

cel

/sɛl/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.79 in modern English

Syllables: cel
IPA: /sɛl/

5

Scrabble Score

3

Letters

1

Syllables

3

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A piece of celluloid on which has been drawn a frame of an animated film.

noun

Clipping of celibacy or celibate.

noun

Acronym of check engine light.

name

A diminutive of the female given name Celia.

Example Sentences

"After Jobs’s $5 million offer was rejected, the team attempted to do a deal with Disney, then a bastion of hand-painted cel animation."
"I said no, and Celia said, "Yeah right. Who's gonna go out with her?" But she smiled when she said it, so I wasn't mad. And then Margaret winked at me and she said, "Cel's just jealous, Annemarie, 'cause you're way prettier than she was when she was your age.""

Etymology

Clipping of celluloid.

Inflected Forms

cels (plural) cell (alternative)

Derived Forms

heightcel hicel incel nearcel noncel truecel volcel

Phrases

cel-shaded cel shading

Synonyms

celibate truecel trucel

Homonyms

cell sell SEAL ceil seel

Rhymes With

well tell hell sell hotel cell fell bell el personnel nfl smell

Questions

How do you pronounce cel?: The recorded pronunciation is /sɛl/.
What does cel mean?: A piece of celluloid on which has been drawn a frame of an animated film.
Where does cel come from?: Clipping of celluloid.

How to pronounce cel

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “cel”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/sɛl/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “cel”.
Repeat and practice — Say “cel” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.