angel

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Angel (disambiguation)

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• enPR: ānʹjəl, IPA^(key): /ˈeɪn.d͡ʒəl/
• (Caribbean or poetic) IPA^(key): /ˈeɪn.d͡ʒɛl/
• (dialectal, obsolete) enPR: ănʹjəl, IPA^(key): /ˈæn.d͡ʒəl/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪndʒəl

Etymology 1

 angel on Wikipedia

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

• Angel
• angell (obsolete)

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.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 151, column 1, lines 13–14:

     Diſpaire thy Charme, / And let the Angell whom thou ſtill haſt ſeru’d / Tell thee, Macduffe was from his Mothers womb / Vntimely ript.

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. (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.

10. (theater) The person who funds a show.

    Synonym: backer

Synonyms

• (spiritual messenger): errand-ghost (rare)

Hyponyms

• cherub, minion, power, principality, seraph, throne

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• Jamaican Creole: ienjel
• → Chinese: 安琪兒／安琪儿 (ānqí'ér)
• → Hawaiian: ʻānela
• → Lingala: anjelu, anzelu
• → Malagasy: anjely

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

Etymology 2

Clipping of Angelman

Noun

angel (plural angels)

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

See also

• 😇, 👼

Anagrams

• -angle, Angle, Elgan, Galen, Lange, Legan, Nagle, agnel, angle, genal, glean, lenga

Chibcha

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish angel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /anɣel/

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑŋəl/

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: an‧gel
• Rhymes: -ɑŋəl

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

• gifangel
• voetangel

Descendants

• Afrikaans: angel

See also

• hengel

Anagrams

• algen, lagen, lange, nagel

German

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

angel

1. singular imperative of angeln

Indonesian

Etymology 1

From Javanese ꦲꦔꦺꦭ꧀ (angèl).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: angèl

Adjective

angèl

1. (colloquial) difficult.

   Synonyms: sukar, sulit

Etymology 2

From Riau Malay .

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: angél

Adjective

angél

1. lonely

Further reading

• “angel” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

Javanese

Romanization

angel

1. Romanization of ꦲꦔꦺꦭ꧀

Karao

Noun

angel

1. (anatomy) body

Middle English

Noun

angel

1. Alternative form of aungel

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

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

1. Alternative form of ongel

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑn.ɡel/,

Noun

angel m

1. Alternative form of angol

Declension

Old Frisian

Alternative forms

• engel

Noun

angel m

1. angel

Inflection

Descendants

• Saterland Frisian: Ängel
• West Frisian: ingel

Old Spanish

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈanʒel/

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.”

Related terms

• evangelio

Descendants

• Ladino: andjel
• Spanish: ángel, ángelo
  • → Cebuano: anghél
  • → Chibcha: angel
  • → Hiligaynon: anghel
  • → Inabaknon: anghel
  • → Karao: anghil
  • → Mezquital Otomi: ě̱nxe̱
  • → O'odham: aŋhil
  • → Quechua: anqil
  • → Tagalog: anghel
  • → Tetelcingo Nahuatl: öngel
  • → Waray-Waray: anghel
  • → Yucatec Maya: ángel
  • → Zoogocho Zapotec: angl

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

angel m (Cyrillic spelling ангел)

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

Slovene

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /àːnɡɛl/

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.

Further reading

• “angel”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

Swedish

Noun

angel c

1. a pike hook

   Synonym: angelkrok

Declension

Derived terms

• angeldon
• angelfiske
• angelkrok

Related terms

• angla

References

• angel in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• angel in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• angel in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈaŋɛl/
  • (North Wales, colloquial also) IPA^(key): /ˈaŋal/

Noun

angel m (plural angylion or engyl)

1. (religion) angel

Derived terms

• angyles (“female angel”)
• archangel (“archangel”)

Mutation

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈaŋəl/

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