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shovel

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shovel

  • /ˈʃʌv.əl/ Canada, US, UK
  • [ˈʃʌv.ɫ̩] Canada, US, UK
  • /ˈʃʊv.əl/ Northern England
  • [ˈʃʊv.ɫ̩] Northern England
  • /ˈʃɐv.əl/ Australia, New Zealand
  • [ˈʃɐv.ɫ̩] Australia, New Zealand

Rhymes with -ʌvəl

Where it comes from

From Middle English schovele, schovel, showell, shole (> English dialectal shoul, shool), from Old English scofl (“shovel”), from Proto-Germanic *skuflō, *skūflō (“shovel”), equivalent to shove + -el (instrumental/agent suffix).

Cognate with Scots shuffle, shule, shuil (“shovel”), Saterland Frisian Sköifel (“shovel”), West Frisian skoffel, schoffel (“hoe, spade, shovel”), Dutch schoffel (“spade, hoe”), Low German Schüfel, Schuffel (“shovel”), German Schaufel (“shovel”), Danish skovl (“shovel”), Faroese skupla (“shovel”), Icelandic skófla (“shovel”), Norwegian skyfle (“shovel”), skyffel (“shovel, hoe”), Swedish skyffel, skovel (“shovel”).

Compare typologically Russian пешня (pešnja) (akin to пиха́ть (pixátʹ)), сово́к (sovók) (akin to сова́ть (sovátʹ)).

noun shovels

  1. A hand tool with a handle, used for moving portions of material such as earth, snow, and grain from one place to another, with some forms also used for digging. In strict usage differentiated from a spade, which is designed solely for small-scale digging and incidental tasks such as chopping of small roots. It was said that such train crews kept a spare shovel on board because, on numerous occasions, the beginner had not only zealously thrown coal into the firebox but had let the shovel go as well.
  2. A mechanical part of an excavator with a similar function.
  3. US, broadly, especially Any shovel in the above senses, or any spade.
  4. abbreviation, ellipsis Ellipsis of shovel hat No one seems to like the offer, and the umpire is just coming down, when a queer old hat, something like a doctor of divinity's shovel, is chucked on to the stage […]

verb shovels · shoveling · shovelling · shoveled · shovelled

  1. To move materials with a shovel. The workers were shovelling gravel and tarmac into the pothole in the road.
  2. figuratively, transitive To move with a shoveling motion. Already late for work, I shovelled breakfast into my mouth as fast as possible.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: shovelful, spadeful, digger, excavator, power shovel, spade, bucket, bulldozer, dustpan, backhoe, broom, scoop, spatula, leather, skin, fur

Translations

Every language

noun tool for moving portions of material

Españolpala
한국어삽 sap
日本語シャベル shaberu, スコップ sukoppu
中文鏟子 /铲子 chǎnzi, 鐵鍬 /铁锹 tiěqiāo
हिन्दीबेलचा belcā, खनित्र khanitra
Portuguêspá
Françaispelle, bêche
DeutschSchaufel, Schüppe
Italianopala, badile, paletta
Ελληνικάφτυάρι ftyári
Românălopată
Русскийлопа́та lopáta
Tiếng Việtmai, xẻng
العربيةمِجْرَفَة mijrafa, مِجْرَاف mijrāf
עבריתאֵת et

verb to move materials with a shovel

Españoltraspalar, palear
Portuguêspalear, padejar
Françaispeller
Deutschschaufeln, schippen
Italianospalare
Ελληνικάφτυαρίζω ftyarízo
العربيةمجرفة

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Cite this
MLA

"shovel." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/shovel. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

shovel. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/shovel

Chicago

"shovel." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/shovel.

BibTeX
@misc{shovel_2026,
  title = {shovel},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/shovel},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}