Pfeil

English

Etymology

Borrowed from German Pfeil.

Proper noun

Pfeil (plural Pfeils)

1. A surname from German.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Pfeil is the 12285^nd most common surname in the United States, belonging to 2531 individuals. Pfeil is most common among White (96.21%) individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Pfeil”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 3, New York City: Oxford University Press, →ISBN.

Anagrams

• flipe

German

Etymology

From Middle High German pfīl, from Old High German pfīl, from Proto-West Germanic *pīl, from Latin pīlum (“javelin, throwing spear”). Cognate with German Low German Piel, Dutch pijl (“arrow, dart”), English pile (“column of wood, steel or concrete”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pfaɪ̯l/ (standard)
• IPA^(key): /faɪ̯l/ (northern and central Germany)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ̯l

Noun

Pfeil m (strong, genitive Pfeiles or Pfeils, plural Pfeile)

1. arrow (missile)
2. arrow (sign)
3. (computing) mouse cursor (informally even when not in the form of an arrow)

   Synonyms: Cursor, Mauszeiger

Declension

Declension of Pfeil [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Pfeil	die	Pfeile
genitive	eines	des	Pfeiles, Pfeils	der	Pfeile
dative	einem	dem	Pfeil, Pfeile1	den	Pfeilen
accusative	einen	den	Pfeil	die	Pfeile

¹Now rare, see notes.

Hyponyms

• Giftpfeil
• Grünpfeil
• Richtungspfeil

 

Derived terms

• pfeilartig
• pfeilförmig

 

Related terms

• Pfeil und Bogen
• pfeilschnell
• Pfeilspitze
• Pfeilstorch

 

See also

• Bogen m

Further reading

• “Pfeil” in Duden online
• “Pfeil” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• Friedrich Kluge (1883) “Pfeil”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891