val

val

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Vehes.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Vehes terms

Shortening of Valium.

val (countable and uncountable, plural vals)

1. (informal) Valium.
   • 1997 May 29, Kate Sholl, “Re: MED: Pain relief in Neck?”, in alt.med.fibromyalgia‎^[2] (Usenet):

     and i must be on that list of people that need to get knocked over with a hammer 'cause vicodin and val don't knock me out.

   • 1998 December 29, rob [username], “Re: Depression and MS(leg/feet burning pain)”, in alt.support.mult-sclerosis‎^[3] (Usenet):

     I would think though that whatever the reason for a panic attack valium would be great. I know that if my house was on fire and I was on 15mg of val It^[sic] would take a lot more energy than I had, to panic. ;^)

   • 2002 June 28, FllSpdAhd1 [username], “Re: Valium?”, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav‎^[4] (Usenet):

     I'm a medic and phenobarb is the primary drug for true seizures, but the OP states the cat presents seizure like behavior at the sound of her voice. I don't know where any of you are from, but we don't treat seizures with val.

• AVL, LAV, Vla., lav

From Dutch vallen.

• IPA^(key): /fal/

• Audio:

  (file)

val (present val, present participle vallende, past participle geval)

1. to fall

Likely borrowed from Latin vallis. The term may be an example of an ancient borrowing that later fell out of use. Its presence is minimal but scattered both in Southern and Northern Albanian toponyms.

• IPA^(key): /ˈval/
• Rhymes: -al

val m (definite vali) (chiefly uncountable, regional)

1. valley

   Synonyms: luginë, lug

2. scree

   Synonyms: valishtë, rrëgallë

3. mountain pass

   Synonym: qafë

4. summer pasture, shieling

• FMGJSH (2026), “val,~i”
• Topalli (2017), page 1542ab: “val”
• Çabej SE, vol. 7, pages 221f.: “val”
• Gazulli (1942), page 248: “mal e val”

Borrowed from Sicilian vagliu, vagghiu.

• baj — Sicily

val m (plural vale, definite vali) (dialectal, Calabria)

1. courtyard

   Synonym: (standard) oborr

• Giordano (1963), page 526a: “vál-i”
• Kamsi (2000), page 295a: “valj-i”

val m (definite vali) (dialectal, Calabria, San Marzano, Mandrica)

1. alternative form of vaj (“olive oil”)

   Këta val ë të vjetër. (Frascineto)

   This olive oil is old.

• Giordano (1963), page 526a: “vàl-i”
• Gallo (2017), page 155a: “valë/i”
• Kamsi (2000), page 295a: “valj-i”
• Shuteriqi (1965), page 169: “val-i”

• vache (Tensino Panticuto), vall (Benasquese)

From Latin valles.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbal/
• Syllabification: val
• Rhymes: -al

val f (plural vals)

1. valley

• “valle”, in Aragonario, diccionario castellano–aragonés (in Spanish)

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈbal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [ˈval]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -al

val m (plural vals)

1. voucher

val

1. inflection of valer:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative
2. inflection of valdre:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

val

1. okay

• “val” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “val”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “val”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Derived from Middle High German wal, from Latin vallum.

• IPA^(key): [ˈval]
• Rhymes: -al

val m inan

1. bulwark, rampart

• “val”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “val”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “val”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Borrowed from Old Norse valr.

• IPA^(key): /ˈvaːl/, [ˈʋæˀl]
• Homophone: hval

val c (singular definite valen, not used in plural form)

1. (poetic) battlefield

• “val” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “Val,1” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Borrowed from Middle Low German wal or Dutch wal (“coast, shore”), from Latin vallum. Doublet of vold.

• IPA^(key): /ˈvalˀ/, [ˈʋalˀ]
• Homophone: valg

val c (singular definite vallen, not used in plural form)

1. (obsolete) steep coastline
   • 1779, Johannes Ewald, Romance (from the play Fiskerne), now royal anthem of Denmark / https://kalliope.org/da/text/ewlad1999022205:

     Fra Vallen hørtes Vraal, som brød | Den tykke Skye.

     From the coast a cry was heard that broke the thick cloud.

• “Val,2” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

From Old Norse vǫllr, from Proto-Germanic *walþuz (“forest”), cognate with German Wald. Doublet of vold. Alternatively, the same word as the noun above.

val c (singular definite vallen, not used in plural form)

1. (obsolete) plain
   • 1812, N.F.S. Grundtvig, Til Danerkongen Frederik hin Sjette (in: Poetiske Skrifter, vol. 3, p. 2):

     Paa faste Val og paa den grønne Strand, | At ofre villig baade Liv og Blod.

     On the firm plain and the green beach to sacrifice both life and blood.

• “Val,3” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

• IPA^(key): /vɑl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: val
• Rhymes: -ɑl
• Homophone: Val

From Middle Dutch val, from Old Dutch *fal, from Proto-West Germanic *fall, from Proto-Germanic *fallaz. Equivalent to a deverbal from vallen (“to fall”).

val m (plural vallen, diminutive valletje n)

1. a fall (act or event of falling)
2. a downfall, demise

   Synonym: ondergang

From Middle Dutch valle, from Old Dutch falla, ultimately from the root of vallen (“to fall”), thus related to Etymology 1 above.

val f (plural vallen, diminutive valletje n)

1. a physical trap, snare
2. any trap, ploy

Related to Etymology 1 above.

val n (plural vallen, diminutive valletje n)

1. (nautical) halyard

   Synonym: vlaggenlijn

• →? Danish: fald (or from Low German)
• Norwegian:
  • → Norwegian Nynorsk: fall
  • → Norwegian Bokmål: fall
• →? Swedish: fall (or from Low German)
  • → Finnish: falli
• → Lithuanian: falas
• → Latvian: falle
• → Polish: fał
• → Russian: ва́л (vál)
  • → Ukrainian: ва́л (vál)
  • → Azerbaijani: fal
• → Bulgarian: фал (fal)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.) Probably of the same origin as walvis (“whale”), being the largest land fish.

val m (plural vallen, diminutive valletje n)

1. (obsolete) a catfish

   Synonym: meerval

2. any of its relatives in the family Siluridae

From Sanskrit वल्ल (valla),^[1][2] a word used for various grains and pulses, or for a unit of weight equal to 3 रक्तिका (raktikā). The explanation of latter meaning is that the रक्तिका (raktikā) is named after the seeds of Abrus precatorius, of which there are often 3 in a pod.^[3]

val m (plural vals, diminutive valletje n)

1. (obsolete) an East Indian weight for silver and gold.
   • 1682, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, De zes reizen van den Heer J. Bapt. Tavernier, die hij, gedurende de tyt van veertig jaren, in Turkyen, Persiën, en in d'Indiën, langs alle de wegen, die derwaarts strekken, gedaan heeft [The six voyages of Lord J. Bapt. Tavernier, which he made during the period of forty years, in Turkey, Persia, and in the Indies, along all the roads leading thither], Amsterdam: Weduwe Johannes van Someren, page 12:

     Wat de Spaansche Reaal aangaat / die drieënzeventig Vals weegt / men heeft 'er vier Mamoudiën en een halve voor / en een Mamoudi geld twintig Pechas; en in dezer voegen heeft men voor de Spaansche Reaal tnegentig [sic] Pechas: maar zij moeten / gelijk ik gezegt heb / goed zijn / en drieenzeventig Vals wegen.

     As for the Spanish real, which weighs seventy-three vals, one gets four and a half mahmudi for it, and a mahmudi is worth twenty paisa; and in this way one has ninety paisa for the Spanish real: but they should, as I was saying, be good, and weigh seventy-three vals.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

val

1. inflection of vallen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

• vla

From Old Norse val (“choice”) (see the verb velja (“to choose”)), from Proto-Germanic *walą.

• Rhymes: -ɛaːl

val n (genitive singular vals, plural val)

1. choice

   Eg hevði einki val. ― I had no choice.

2. (politics) election

   Í dag er val í Norðurkorea, og tað gongur fyri seg upp á ein heilt serligan hátt. ― Today there is an election in North Korea, and it is happening in a very special way.

3. quality

Inherited from Old French val, from Latin vallem.

• IPA^(key): /val/

val m (plural vaux / vals)

1. (literary) valley, vale

• à vau-l’eau

• VAL

• “val”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

From Latin vallis, vallem.

val f (plural valis)

1. valley

• valdade

13th century. From Old Galician-Portuguese vale, from Latin vallis, vallem.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbal/ [ˈbɑɫ]
• Rhymes: -al

val m (plural vales)

1. valley
   • c1350, Kevin M. Parker (ed.), Historia Troyana. Santiago: Instituto Padre Sarmiento, page 122:

     Et ao ferir, braadarõ et deron tan grãdes vozes que os vales rretenyam.

     As they clashed, they shouted and cried so aloud that the valleys resounded.

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “vale”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “vale”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “val”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “val”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “val”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

From Old Norse val (“choice”) (see the verb velja (“to choose”)), from Proto-Germanic *walą.

• IPA^(key): /vaːl/
• Rhymes: -aːl

val n (genitive singular vals, nominative plural völ)

1. choice
2. selection

• náttúruval
• kynbundið val

• IPA^(key): /ˈval/
• Rhymes: -al
• Hyphenation: vàl

val f (apocopated)

1. apocopic form of valle

val

1. apocopic form of vale

• Vla.

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɑˀl/, [ˈvɑˀl]

From Proto-Finnic *valo, from Proto-Finno-Ugric *waĺɜ. Cognates include Finnish valo.

va’l

1. light

From Proto-Finnic *valo, probably borrowed from Proto-Germanic *kwalō.

va’l

1. pain, ache

• Tiit-Rein Viitso; Valts Ernštreits (2012–2013), “va’l”, in Līvõkīel-ēstikīel-lețkīel sõnārōntõz [Livonian-Estonian-Latvian Dictionary]‎^[5] (in Estonian and Latvian), Tartu, Rīga: Tartu Ülikool, Latviešu valodas aģentūra

Inherited from Old High German val.

• IPA^(key): (before 13^th CE) /ˈval/, /ˈfal/

val m

1. fall
2. (grammar) case
   • 14th century, Heinrich von Mügeln, Der meide krancz (Codex Palatinus germanicus (Cod. Pal. germ.) 14)

     Wÿ man dy namen brechen ſol
     Nach iren vellen hin czu cal
     [the following verses contain a declension of Petrus (genitive Petri, dative Petro, accusative Petrum, vocative Petre and ablative Petro)]

     How one shall inflect/decline (literally break) the nouns
     After their cases over to number

• German: Fall

From Old Norse vaðill (“ford, shallow water”).

val m (definite singular valen, indefinite plural valer, definite plural valene)

1. inlet, shallow bay

From Old Norse valr (“the fallen”).

val m (definite singular valen, indefinite plural valer, definite plural valene)

1. (poetic) battlefield

From Old Norse val.

val n

1. form removed with the spelling reform of 1959; superseded by valg

• “val” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /vaːl/, /vaːɽ/

From Old Norse val, from Proto-Germanic *walą.

val n (definite singular valet, indefinite plural val, definite plural vala)

1. choice

   Du har ikkje noko val.

   You don't have a choice.

2. election

   Synonym: røysting

   Kven skal du røysta på til valet?

   Who are you going to vote for in the election?

• utval
• valkamp

From Old Norse valr, from Proto-Germanic *walaz.

val m (definite singular valen, uncountable)

1. the slain (in battle)

• “val” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• vath (Gascony)
• vau (Provençal)

From Latin vallis.

• Audio (Languedoc):

  (file)

val f (plural vals)

1. valley

• vaul

From Latin vallis, vallem.

val oblique singular, m (oblique plural vaus or vax or vals, nominative singular vaus or vax or vals, nominative plural val)

1. valley

• → English: vale
• French: val

From Proto-West Germanic *fall, from Proto-Germanic *fallaz.

val m

1. fall

• Middle High German: val
  • German: Fall

val

1. accusative singular of valr

From Latin vallis, vallem.

• IPA^(key): /val/

val f (plural vaj)

1. valley

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Homophones: vale (Portugal), vau (Brazil)
• Hyphenation: val

val m (plural vales)

1. apocopic form of vale (“valley”)

• “val”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “val”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from Old Church Slavonic валъ (valŭ), from Proto-Slavic *valъ. Compare Serbo-Croatian val; close to Albanian valë.

val n (plural valuri)

1. wave

   Synonym: undă

• învălura
• învălui
• vălări

• năvăli
• prăvăli
• valmă

From Latin vallum (“wall, rampart”), probably a later borrowing; cf. German Wall, Italian vallo, also English wall.

val n (plural valuri)

1. earth rampart which served in antiquity as a military stronghold

• văl

From Latin vallis, vallem.

val f (plural vals)

1. valley

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *valъ.

• IPA^(key): /ʋâːl/

vȃl m inan (Cyrillic spelling ва̑л)

1. (regional, Croatia) wave (a long body of water curling into an arched form)

   Synonym: tȁlās

Derived from Middle High German wal, from Latin vallum.

• IPA^(key): /val/, [ˈʋal]
• Rhymes: -al

val m inan (relational adjective valový)

1. bulwark, rampart

• “val”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026

From Proto-Slavic *valъ. First attested in the 16th century.

• IPA^(key): /ʋáːl/

vȃl m inan

1. wave, undulation

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 inan., hard o-stem, plural in -ôv-
nom. sing.	vál
gen. sing.	vála
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	vál	valôva	valôvi
genitive (rodȋlnik)	vála	valôv	valôv
dative (dajȃlnik)	válu	valôvoma	valôvom
accusative (tožȋlnik)	vál	valôva	valôve
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	válu	valôvih	valôvih
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	válom	valôvoma	valôvi

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 inan., hard o-stem
nom. sing.	vál
gen. sing.	vála
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	vál	vála	váli
genitive (rodȋlnik)	vála	válov	válov
dative (dajȃlnik)	válu	váloma	válom
accusative (tožȋlnik)	vál	vála	vále
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	válu	válih	válih
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	válom	váloma	váli

• valováti
• valovéti
• valovíti
• valôven

• “val”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2026

• IPA^(key): /ˈbal/ [ˈbal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: val

val m (plural valles)

1. apocopic form of valle: valley

val

1. apocopic form of vale: is worth

   mi casa y mi hogar cien doblas val. (val rhymes with hogar, assonant rhyme)

   there's no place like home.

• In Old Spanish, after the consonants /d/, /n/, /l/, /ʎ/, /ɾ/ and /θ/, a final /e/ was regularly elided, as in pid, vien, val, quier, faz, versus the modern forms of pide, viene, vale, quiere, and hace, with -e restored by analogy (compare modern Portuguese, which still has apocope in words such as vem (“he/she comes”), quer (“he/she wants”), faz (“he/she does”)). In modern Spanish, a few apocopes following coronal consonants are still preserved: buen, gran, san, derived from bueno, grande, and santo.

• “val”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

• IPA^(key): /vɑːl/

• Audio:

  (file)

From Old Swedish hval, from Old Norse hvalr, from Proto-Germanic *hwalaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kʷálos (“sheatfish”).

val c

2. a whale

   Blåvalen är den största valen och det största djuret överhuvudtaget

   The blue whale is the largest whale [double definiteness – see the usage notes for den] and the largest animal in general

• blåshål (“blowhole”)

From Old Norse val (related to the verb velja (“to choose”)), from Proto-Germanic *walą. Related to välja, vilja (English will).

val n

1. a choice

   Har du gjort ditt val?

   Have you made your choice?

   Du har inget val

   You have no choice

   ett svårt val

   a difficult choice

   ett medvetet val

   a conscious/deliberate choice

3. an election^[1]

   att hålla ett val

   to hold an election

   att hålla val

   to hold elections / an election [as an activity]

   (literally, “to hold election [Could also be interpreted as "elections" for the plural case here, since the plural is identical]”)

   "To <verb> <singular noun>" is a recurring pattern for activities. Compare hopprep (“jump/skipping rope”), where English has a similar pattern "jump/skip rope," studsboll (“bouncy ball”), gungbräda (“seesaw”), drake (“kite”), and bada (“bathe; swim”).

From Old Norse valr (“the slain, the fallen”), from Proto-Germanic *walaz (“corpse, body; carnage”).

val c

1. (obsolete) the fallen; casualties of a war or battle

• valplats

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

• alv, lav

val

1. like, similar to

From Latin vallis, vallem.

• IPA^(key): /val/
• Hyphenation: vàl

val f (plural val)

1. valley

• vałe