tunnel

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tunnel^¹

/ˈtʌn(ə)l/

Rhymes with -ʌnəl

Where it comes from

From Middle English tonnel, from Old French tonel(e), diminutive of tone (“cask”), a word of uncertain origin and affiliation. Related to Old English tunne (“tun; cask; barrel”). More at tun.

noun tunnels

An underground or underwater passage. In 1865 an outfit called the East London Railway Company bought the Brunel tunnel for £800,000, and in 1869 they opened a railway through it.
A passage through or under some obstacle. But very soon he grew to like it, for the Boy used to talk to him, and made nice tunnels for him under the bedclothes that he said were like the burrows the real rabbits lived in.
A hole in the ground made by an animal, a burrow.
A wrapper for a protocol that cannot otherwise be used because it is unsupported, blocked, or insecure.
A vessel with a broad mouth at one end, a pipe or tube at the other, for conveying liquor, fluids, etc., into casks, bottles, or other vessels; a funnel.
The opening of a chimney for the passage of smoke; a flue. And one great chimney, whose long tonnell thence, / The smoke forth threw
A level passage driven across the measures, or at right angles to veins which it is desired to reach; distinguished from the drift, or gangway, which is led along the vein when reached by the tunnel.
figuratively Anything that resembles a tunnel. Especially in the Eden Valley, trees create what is almost a green tunnel (particularly in summer).

verb tunnels · tunneling · tunnelling · tunneled · tunnelled

transitive To make a tunnel through or under something; to burrow. The 1955 Act gave powers for compulsory acquisition of "easements", or permission to tunnel beneath dwelling houses instead of, as had previously been necessary, following approximately the course of surface roads.
Similar: undermine
intransitive To dig a tunnel.
To transmit something through a tunnel (wrapper for an insecure or unsupported protocol).
transitive To insert a catheter into a vein to allow long-term use.
To undergo the quantum-mechanical phenomenon where a particle penetrates through a barrier that it classically cannot surmount.

Tunnel^²

proper noun

A locality in the City of Launceston, northern Tasmania, Australia.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: burrow, underground, hole, dig, gate, passageway, corridor, harbour, underpass, backdoor, crossing, motorcade, subway, diode, tube, galleria

Translations

Every language

noun an underground or underwater passage

Español	túnel
한국어	터널 teoneol, 땅굴 ttanggul, 갱도 gaengdo
日本語	トンネル tonneru, 地下道 chikadō, 隧道 suidō, 坑道 kōdō
中文	隧道 suìdào, 地下道 dìxiàdào, 坑道 kēngdào
हिन्दी	सुरंग suraṅg
Português	túnel
Français	tunnel
Deutsch	Tunnel, Stollen
Italiano	tunnel, galleria, traforo, cunicolo
Ελληνικά	σήραγγα síranga
Română	tunel
Русский	тонне́ль tonnɛ́lʹ, тунне́ль tunnɛ́lʹ
Tiếng Việt	hầm, đường hầm, hầm chui
العربية	نَفَق nafaq
עברית	מִנהָרָה minhará

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MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX

@misc{tunnel_2026,
  title = {tunnel},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/tunnel},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}