teal
/til/noun, adjective
teal is spelled T-E-A-L: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.8 times per million words in written English, the 20,906th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, teal means “Any of various small freshwater ducks of the genus Anas that are brightly coloured and have short necks” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of teal is teals.
How many letters and syllables are in teal?
| Letters | 4: T-E-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 1.8 times per million words; the 20,906th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 teal?
Teal appears 1.8 times per million words in written English, the 20,906th 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 teal?
- UK /tiːl/
- UK [tiːɫ]
- US /til/
Teal has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-teal.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with teal
Sounds like: Thiel, teel, tiel (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with teal?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as teal from its last stressed vowel (/il/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: late, tale, tela, leat, tael.
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 teal
- teals plural
- more teal comparative
- most teal superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does teal mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of various small freshwater ducks of the genus Anas that are brightly coloured and have short necks.
- 2
A dark, somewhat bluish-green colour; a dark cyan.
- 3
AustraliaA teal independent.
adjective
- 1
Having a bluish-green colour.
noun
- 1
Abbreviation of triethylaluminium.
noun
- 1
Abbreviation of triethylaluminium.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Teal in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | sarcelle , bleu sarcelle, bleu canard |
| German | Krickente, Kriekente , blaugrün, petrol, petrolblau |
| Portuguese | patinho, marrequinha, cerceta , azul-petróleo |
| Spanish | cerceta, barraquete, zarceta, trullo , azul petróleo, verde azulado |
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 teal come from?
From Middle English tele, probably from an unrecorded Old English *tǣle, cognate with West Frisian tjilling (“teal”), Middle Dutch teling (“teal”) (modern Dutch taling), Middle Low German telink, from Proto-Germanic *tailijaz, of unknown ultimate origin, with no cognates outside of Germanic. Compare feal and heal for similar phonological development. As the name of a shade of dark greenish-blue like the color patterns on the fowl's head and wings, it is attested from 1923. The Australian political sense derives from the colour teal being intermediate between green (signifying environmentalism)
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).