# entail

> English word · Verb · IPA /ɛnˈteɪl/ · frequency rank #22,073

## Definitions
1. To imply, require, or invoke.
2. To settle or fix inalienably on a person or thing, or on a person and his descendants or a certain line of descendants; -- said especially of an estate; to bestow as a heritage.
3. To appoint hereditary possessor.
4. To cut or carve in an ornamental way.

## Etymology
From Middle English entaillen, from Old French entaillier, entailler (“to notch”, literally “to cut in”); from prefix en- + tailler (“to cut”), from Late Latin taliare, from Latin talea. Compare late Latin feudum talliatum (“a fee entailed, i.e., curtailed or limited”).

## Easily confused with
- **entailed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/entail-vs-entailed)
- **entrails** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/entail-vs-entrails)
- **email** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/email-vs-entail)

## Common misspellings (8)
`enatil`, `enntail`, `entaill`, `entali`, `ential`, `enttail`, `etnail`, `netail`

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