*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of gull

Inherited from Middle English gulle, from a Brythonic language (compare Breton gouelan, Welsh gwylan, and Cornish golan), from Proto-Brythonic *gwuɨlann, from Proto-Celtic *weilannā (“seagull”). Cognate with Old Irish fo

3 source sectionsExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 3 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Source etymology 1

Original entry ↗
noun

A seabird of the genus Larus or of the subfamily Larinae. · Any of various pierid butterflies of the genus Cepora.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Inherited from Middle English gulle, from a Brythonic language (compare Breton gouelan, Welsh gwylan, and Cornish golan), from Proto-Brythonic *gwuɨlann, from Proto-Celtic *weilannā (“seagull”). Cognate with Old Irish foílenn, Scottish Gaelic faoileag. Compare French goéland, a borrowing from Breton. Eclipsed Middle English lare (borrowed from Latin larus) and Middle English mewe (from Old English mæw).

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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      "expansion": "Welsh gwylan"
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      "expansion": "Old Irish foílenn"
    },
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        "1": "gd",
        "2": "faoileag"
      },
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    },
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      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "goéland"
      },
      "expansion": "French goéland"
    },
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      },
      "expansion": "Middle English lare"
    },
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      },
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    },
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      },
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      "gwylan",
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      "golan",
      "golan#Cornish"
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      "*gwuɨlann",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Brythonic/gwuɨlann"
    ],
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      "*weilannā",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/wailannā"
    ],
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      "foílenn",
      "foílenn#Old_Irish"
    ],
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      "faoileag",
      "faoileag#Scottish_Gaelic"
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      "goéland",
      "goéland#French"
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      "lare",
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Source etymology 2

Original entry ↗
verb

To deceive or cheat. · To mislead. · To trick and defraud. · To flatter, wheedle.

noun

A cheating trick; a fraud. · A stupid animal. · One easily cheated; a dupe. · A swindler or trickster.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Perhaps from an obsolete term gull (“to swallow, guzzle”), from Middle English golen (“to make swallowing motions, gape”), from Middle English gole (“throat”).

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

  • Inherited-form mentiongolenenm · to make swallowing motions, gape
  • Inherited-form mentiongoleenm · throat
Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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        "3": "golen",
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      },
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    },
    {
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Source etymology 3

Original entry ↗
noun

A breach or hole made by the force of a torrent; fissure, chasm. · A channel made by a stream; a natural watercourse; running water.

verb

To sweep away by the force of running water; to carve or wear into a gully.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Middle English gole (“a whirlpool, narrow inlet of the sea, ditch or stream”), from Middle Low German goel, gȫl, gȫle (“swamp, marshy lowland”), related to Old Dutch gulla (“pool, puddle”), Old French goille (“pool, puddle, pond”), all ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *goli, *golljā (“puddle”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *guljaz, *guljǭ.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

  • Inherited-form mentiongoleenm · a whirlpool, narrow inlet of the sea, ditch or stream
  • Derivation mentiongoelgml
  • Cognate mentiongullaodt · pool, puddle
  • Cognate mentiongoillefro · pool, puddle, pond
  • Derivation mention*goligmw-pro
  • Derivation mention*guljazgem-pro
Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for gull →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-Z3VsbA