gel
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gel¹
- /d͡ʒɛl/
- [d͡ʒɛɫ]
Sounds like jel, jell · Rhymes with -ɛl
Where it comes from
Coined by Thomas Graham in the mid 19th century as a clipping of gelatin, from French gélatine, from Italian gelatina, diminutive form of gelata (“iced”), from Latin gelāta, past participle of gelō (“to freeze”), from gelū (“frost”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“cold”).
For the meaning development compare with Russian сту́день (stúdenʹ, “aspic, jelly, gel”) related to студёный (studjónyj, “cold”).
noun gels
- A semi-solid to almost solid colloid of a solid and a liquid, such as jelly, cheese or opal. Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.
- A food preparation or dish in the form of a flavored gel. apple gel
- Any gel intended for a particular cosmetic use, such as for styling the hair.
- A film of flexible transparent plastic (such as acetate, celluloid, or cellophane) suitable for making superimpositions or diapositives (image to overlay on other images, especially for overhead projectors); a digital virtual equivalent of this.
verb gels · gelling · gelled
- To apply (cosmetic) gel to (the hair, etc). It ended, as it so often does, with that familiar smile. Cristiano Ronaldo – gelled hair, dazzling teeth, magic in his boots – will never forget the night he scored the 600th goal of an almost implausible career.
- To convert (a substance) into gel form.
- To become a gel: to set up.
- To develop a rapport. He was a nice guy, and I got on OK with his friends, but the two of us never really gelled.
- To come together to form something; to cohere. We put our ideas together and they eventually gelled into a saleable product.
gel²
- /ɡɛl/
Where it comes from
Imitative of upper-class British pronunciation of girl.
noun gels
- A girl. "Now pray don't be troublesome, my dear gel," said Uncle Andrew.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: mousse, coagulate, congeal, freeze, frozen, freezing, freeze-up, chilling, tube, ice, frost, goo, electrolyte, electrophoresis, thicken, jell-o
Translations
Every language
noun suspension of solid in liquid
| Español | gel |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 겔 gel, 젤 jel |
| 日本語 | ゲル geru, ジェル jeru |
| 中文 | 凝膠 /凝胶 níngjiāo, 凍膠 /冻胶 dòngjiāo, 啫哩 zhělī |
| हिन्दी | जेल jel |
| Kiswahili | jeli |
| Português | gel |
| Français | gel |
| Deutsch | Gel |
| Italiano | gel |
| Ελληνικά | γέλη géli, πήκτωμα píktoma |
| Русский | гель gelʹ, желе́ želé, сту́день stúdenʹ |
| Tiếng Việt | gien, keo |
| العربية | هُلَام hulām |
| עברית | גֶ׳ל djel |
noun any gel for a particular cosmetic use
| 日本語 | ジェル jeru |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 凝膠 /凝胶 níngjiāo |
| Kiswahili | jeli |
| Português | gel |
| Français | gel |
| Deutsch | Gel |
| Ελληνικά | ζελέ zelé, τζελ tzel |
| Русский | гель gelʹ |
| العربية | مُثَبِّتُ الشَّعْر muṯabbitu š-šaʕr |
| עברית | ג׳ל djel, תקריש takrísh |
verb develop a rapport
| Español | relacionarse |
|---|
Talk about this word "gel." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/gel. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. gel. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/gel "gel." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/gel.Cite this
@misc{gel_2026,
title = {gel},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/gel},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
