angel

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English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

 angel on Wikipedia
Angels depicted in the Florence Baptistery, 13th century
Two Baroque angels from southern Germany, from the mid-18th century

From Middle English angel, aungel, ængel, engel, from Old English anġel, ænġel, enġel, enċġel (angel, messenger), from Proto-West Germanic *angil, borrowed from Latin angelus, itself from Ancient Greek ἄγγελος (ángelos, messenger); and also in part from Anglo-Norman angele, angle, from the same Latin source. The religious sense of the Greek word first appeared in the Septuagint as a translation of the Hebrew word מַלְאָךְ (malʾāḵ, messenger) or יהוה מַלְאָךְ (malʾāḵ YHWH, messenger of YHWH).

Use of the term in some churches to refer to a church official derives from interpreting the "angels" of the Seven churches of Asia in Revelation as being bishops or ministers rather than angelic beings.

Alternative forms

Noun

angel (plural angels)

  1. An incorporeal and sometimes divine messenger from a deity, or other divine entity, often depicted in art as a youthful winged figure in flowing robes.
    • 1641, Ben Jonson, The Sad Shepherd:
      The dear good angel of the Spring, / The nightingale.
    • 1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 50:
      There seemed to be girls sitting on top of them, or maybe they were meant to be angels. Angels are usually represented as wearing more than that, though.
  2. (Abrahamic tradition) One of the lowest order of such beings, below virtues.
  3. A person having the qualities attributed to angels, such as purity or selflessness.
    Thanks for making me breakfast in bed, you little angel.
    • 2014 August 25, John Eligon, “Michael Brown Spent Last Weeks Grappling With Problems and Promise”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
      Michael Brown, 18, due to be buried on Monday, was no angel, with public records and interviews with friends and family revealing both problems and promise in his young life.
  4. (obsolete) Attendant spirit; genius; demon.
  5. (possibly obsolete) An official (a bishop, or sometimes a minister) who heads a Christian church, especially a Catholic Apostolic Church.
    • 1817, Thomas Stackhouse, A history of the holy Bible, corrected and improved by G. Gleig, page 504:
      An apostle, or angel, or bishop, as he is now called, resided with a college of presbyters about him, in every considerable city of the Roman empire; to that angel or bishop, was committed the pastoral care of all the Christian in the city and its suburbs, extending as far on all sides as the jurisdiction of the civil magistrate extended;
    • 1832, Edward Irving, speech before the Presbytery of London, quoted in 1862, Margaret Oliphant, The Life of Edward Irving, Minister of the National Scotch Church, London: Illustrated by His Journals and Correspondence, page 429
      the head of that Church, in whose place I stand in my Church, and in whose place no other standeth (the elders and deacons have their place, but this belongeth to the angel or minister of the Church), and the Lord commendeth him for trying
    • 1878, Edward Miller, The History and Doctrines of Irvingism Or of the So-called Catholic and Apostolic Church, § 9 Pastors, page 50 (discussing the structure of the early Christian church and of the Catholic Apostolic Church):
      The second or highest grade consists of the Angels or Bishops of Churches. Each Church has its Angel, who has (1) the higher supervision and care of all the flock, (2) the supervision and care of the Priests under him, and (3) the care of the Church itself.
  6. (historical) An English gold coin, bearing the figure of the archangel Michael, circulated between the 15th and 17th centuries, and varying in value from six shillings and eightpence to ten shillings.
    Synonym: angel-noble
  7. (military slang, originally Royal Air Force) An altitude, measured in thousands of feet.
    Climb to angels sixty.ascend to 60,000 feet
  8. (colloquial, dated) An unidentified flying object detected by air traffic control radar.
  9. someone that funds
    1. (finance) An angel investor.
      • 2011, OECD, Financing High-Growth Firms: The Role of Angel Investors:
        “Latent” angels are defined as those who have not invested capital in the past 12 months, although they likely have invested knowledge in the process of reviewing potential investments.
    2. (theater) The person who funds a show. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
      Synonym: backer
Synonyms
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Descendants
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

angel (third-person singular simple present angels, present participle angeling or angelling, simple past and past participle angeled or angelled)

  1. (transitive, theater, slang) To support by donating money.
    • 1944, Maurice Zolotow, Never Whistle in a Dressing Room; Or, Breakfast in Bedlam, page 59:
      Six years ago, he lost $20,000 in the first show he angelled, a turkey called Dance Night.
    • 1984, “American Magazine”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 118, page 88:
      You've got to come to Chicago to meet Duell, and see Wilson, who's going to angel the show.

References

  1. ^ Bingham, Caleb (1808) “Improprieties in Pronunciation, common among the people of New-England”, in The Child's Companion; Being a Conciſe Spelling-book , 12th edition, Boston: Manning & Loring, →OCLC, page 74.

Etymology 2

Clipping of Angelman

Noun

angel (plural angels)

  1. (informal) A person who has Angelman syndrome.

See also

Anagrams

Chibcha

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish angel.

Pronunciation

Noun

angel

  1. angel

References

  • Gómez Aldana D. F., Análisis morfológico del Vocabulario 158 de la Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia. Grupo de Investigación Muysccubun. 2013.

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch angel, from Old Dutch *angul, from Proto-Germanic *angulaz.

Cognate with German Angel.

Pronunciation

Noun

angel m (plural angels, diminutive angeltje n)

  1. sting, dart (insect's organ)
  2. hook, fish-hook, angle
  3. tang (extension of a tool or weapon's head that is inserted in a handle)
  4. (rare, obsolete) a snake's tongue

Derived terms

Descendants

See also

Anagrams

German

Pronunciation

Verb

angel

  1. singular imperative of angeln

Indonesian

Etymology 1

From Javanese ꦲꦔꦺꦭ꧀ (angèl).

Pronunciation

Adjective

angèl

  1. (colloquial) difficult.
    Synonyms: sukar, sulit

Etymology 2

From Riau Malay .

Pronunciation

Adjective

angél

  1. lonely

Further reading

Javanese

Romanization

angel

  1. Romanization of ꦲꦔꦺꦭ꧀

Karao

Noun

angel

  1. (anatomy) body

Middle English

Noun

angel

  1. Alternative form of aungel

Middle High German

Alternative forms

Etymology

    From Old High German angul.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): (before 13th CE) /ˈaŋɡəl/

    Noun

    angel m or f

    1. fishing rod
    2. stinger (pointed portion of an insect or arachnid used for attack)

    Declension

    Descendants

    Adverb

    angel

    1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

    References

    • Benecke, Georg Friedrich, Müller, Wilhelm, Zarncke, Friedrich (1863) “angel stm.”, in Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch: mit Benutzung des Nachlasses von Benecke, Stuttgart: S. Hirzel
    • Benecke, Georg Friedrich, Müller, Wilhelm, Zarncke, Friedrich (1863) “angel, adv.”, in Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch: mit Benutzung des Nachlasses von Benecke, Stuttgart: S. Hirzel
    • "angel" in Köbler, Gerhard, Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch (3rd edition 2014)

    Norwegian Nynorsk

    Noun

    angel m (definite singular angelen, indefinite plural anglar, definite plural anglane)

    1. Alternative form of ongel

    Old English

    Etymology 1

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    angel m

    1. Alternative form of angol
    Declension

    Strong a-stem:

    singular plural
    nominative angel anglas
    accusative angel anglas
    genitive angles angla
    dative angle anglum

    Etymology 2

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    anġel m

    1. Alternative form of enġel (angel)
    Declension

    Strong a-stem:

    Old Frisian

    Alternative forms

    Noun

    angel m

    1. angel

    Inflection

    Declension of angel (masculine a-stem)
    singular plural
    nominative angel angelar, angela
    accusative angel angelar, angela
    genitive angeles angela
    dative angele angelum, angelem

    Descendants

    Old Spanish

    Etymology

    From Latin angelus (angel), from Ancient Greek ἄγγελος (ángelos, messenger, angel).

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    angel m (plural angeles)

    1. angel
      • c. 1200, Almerich, Fazienda de Ultramar, f. 2v:
        eſtos angeles cõ q fablo abraã. vinieron a ſodoma e loth ſedia ala puerta dela cibdat. e violos e leuãtos cõtra ellõ. e omillos troa la tierra. e dixo les priego uos mios ſẽnores. Q̃ uẽgades acaſa de ur̃o ſieruo albergar.
        These angels to whom Abraham spoke came to Sodom, and Lot was at the city's gate. And he saw them and he got up to greet them and groveled with his face to the ground. And he said, “I beg you, my lords, come spend the night at your servant's house.”
      • Idem, f. 4v.
        veno el angel del cr̃ador de noch ⁊ dixo alabã. Gvardate de aquel om̃e nol fagas mal.
        And the angel of the Creator came to Laban at night and said unto him, “Beware that man and do him no harm.”

    Descendants

    Serbo-Croatian

    Noun

    angel m (Cyrillic spelling ангел)

    1. (Kajkavian) angel
    2. Obsolete form of anđel.

    Slovene

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    ángel m anim

    1. angel

    Inflection

    The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.
    Masculine anim., hard o-stem
    nom. sing. ángel
    gen. sing. ángela
    singular dual plural
    nominative
    (imenovȃlnik)
    ángel ángela ángeli
    genitive
    (rodȋlnik)
    ángela ángelov ángelov
    dative
    (dajȃlnik)
    ángelu ángeloma ángelom
    accusative
    (tožȋlnik)
    ángela ángela ángele
    locative
    (mẹ̑stnik)
    ángelu ángelih ángelih
    instrumental
    (orọ̑dnik)
    ángelom ángeloma ángeli

    Further reading

    • angel”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2024

    Swedish

    angel(krok) (pike hook) in third row from the bottom

    Noun

    angel c

    1. a pike hook
      Synonym: angelkrok

    Declension

    Derived terms

    References

    Welsh

    Etymology

    From Middle Welsh angel, from Proto-Brythonic *angel, a borrowing from Latin angelus, from Ancient Greek ἄγγελος m (ángelos, messenger; one that announces). Cognate with Cornish el, Breton ael.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    angel m (plural angylion or engyl)

    1. (religion) angel

    Derived terms

    Mutation

    Mutated forms of angel
    radical soft nasal h-prothesis
    angel unchanged unchanged hangel

    Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
    All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

    Further reading

    R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “angel”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

    West Frisian

    Etymology

    From Old Frisian *angel, from Proto-Germanic *angulaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂enk-.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    angel c (plural angels, diminutive angeltsje)

    1. sting, stinger (insect's organ)
    2. fishing rod

    Further reading

    • angel (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011