# anvil

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈæn.vəl/ · frequency rank #27,361

## Definitions
1. A heavy iron block used in the blacksmithing trade as a surface upon which metal can be struck and shaped.
2. The incus bone in the middle ear.
3. A stone or other hard surface used by a bird for breaking the shells of snails.
4. The non-moving surface of a micrometer against which the item to be measured is placed.
5. A horizontal-topped mass of cloud, shaped like a blacksmith's anvil, that forms before a thunderstorm.

## Etymology
From Middle English anfilt, anvelt, anfelt, from late Old English anfilt, anfilte, anfealt, from earlier onfilti (“anvil”), from Proto-West Germanic *anafalt (compare Middle Dutch anvilte, Low German Anfilts, Anefilt, Old High German anafalz), compound of *ana (“on”) + *falt (“beaten”) (compare German falzen (“to groove, fold, welt”), Swedish dialectal filta (“to beat”)), from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂-t- (“shaken, beaten”) (compare Middle Irish lethar (“leather”), Latin pellō (“to beat, strike”), Ancient Greek πάλλω (pállō, “to toss, brandish”)), enlargement of Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- (“to stir, move”). More at felon.

## Easily confused with
- **Avi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/anvil-vs-avi)
- **avid** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/anvil-vs-avid)
- **avis** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/anvil-vs-avis)
- **April** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/anvil-vs-april)
- **avail** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/anvil-vs-avail)
- **Avril** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/anvil-vs-avril)
- **ani** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ani-vs-anvil)
- **anal** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/anal-vs-anvil)
- **anil** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/anil-vs-anvil)
- **ANSI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ansi-vs-anvil)
- **angel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/angel-vs-anvil)
- **Annie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/annie-vs-anvil)
- **Alvin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/alvin-vs-anvil)
- **Angie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/angie-vs-anvil)
- **Advil** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/advil-vs-anvil)

## Common misspellings (7)
`anivl`, `annvil`, `anvill`, `anvli`, `anvvil`, `avnil`, `navil`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/anvil