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PlainSpell

nail

/neɪl/noun, verb

nail is spelled N-A-I-L: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,025th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, nail means “The horny plate or appendage at the ends of the digits of various animals, including most reptiles, birds, and mammals (both nonhuman and human)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of nail is nails.

How many letters and syllables are in nail?

Letters4: N-A-I-L
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing16 times per million words; the 5,025th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is nail?

Nail appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,025th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce nail?

  • /neɪl/
  • [neɪ̯ɫ]

Nail has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-nail.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with nail?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as nail.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: anil, lain.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of nail

  • nails plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • nailing participle, present
  • nailed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does nail mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The horny plate or appendage at the ends of the digits of various animals, including most reptiles, birds, and mammals (both nonhuman and human).

  2. 2

    The thin, flat type of such a plate on the fingers and toes of humans, chimpanzees and some other primates.

    When I'm nervous I bite my nails.

  3. 3

    The basal thickened portion of the anterior wings of certain hemiptera.

  4. 4

    The terminal horny plate on the beak of ducks and other allied birds.

  5. 5

    A spike-shaped metal fastener used for joining wood or similar materials. The nail is generally driven through two or more layers of material by means of impacts from a hammer or other device. It is then held in place by friction.

    Yesterday my shirt got torn after I caught it on a nail.

  6. 6

    A round pedestal on which merchants once carried out their business, such as the four nails outside The Exchange, Bristol.

  7. 7

    An archaic English unit of length equivalent to ¹⁄₂₀ of an ell or ¹⁄₁₆ of a yard (2+¹⁄₄ inches or 5.715 cm).

verb

  1. 1

    To fix (an object) to another object using a nail.

    He nailed the placard to the post.

  2. 2

    To drive a nail.

    He used the ax head for nailing.

  3. 3

    To stud or boss with nails, or as if with nails.

  4. 4

    slangTo catch.

  5. 5

    slangTo expose as a sham.

  6. 6

    slangTo accomplish (a task) completely and successfully.

    I really nailed that test.

  7. 7

    slangTo hit (a target) effectively with some weapon.

  8. 8

    slangvulgarOf a male, to engage in sexual intercourse with.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate nail?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of nail: na..

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Nail in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchongle (on fingers and toes), clou (spike-shaped metal fastener used for joining…), seize (archaic unit of length), clouer (employ a nail as a fastener), choper (catch), envoyer (accomplish something completely and successfully)
GermanNagel (on fingers and toes), festnageln, nageln, annageln (employ a nail as a fastener), sich krallen (catch)
Portugueseunha (on fingers and toes), prego, cravo (spike-shaped metal fastener used for joining…), pregar (employ a nail as a fastener), pegar (catch), meter (engage in sexual intercourse)
Spanishuña, garra (on fingers and toes), clavo, punta, estoperol (spike-shaped metal fastener used for joining…), clavar (employ a nail as a fastener)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does nail come from?

From Middle English nail, nayl, Old English næġl, from Proto-West Germanic *nagl, from Proto-Germanic *naglaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃nogʰ- (“nail”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after nail