Dictionary

ginnel en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈɡɪnəl/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From dialectal ginn (“a road or passage down to the sea”) + -el (diminutive suffix), ultimately from Old English gin (“an opening, gap, abyss”) or Old Norse gin (“throat, gullet, maw”), both from Proto-Germanic *giną (“throat, gullet”).

Meanings

1. (England, Yorkshire, especially, qualifier:Lancashire; Manchester; Lancashire; Manchester) A narrow passageway or alley often between terraced houses.
   • Pssht, get over here, whoopie / Finish him like Sub-Zero / Out the window, into the garden / Over the fence and straight through the ginnel 2014 September 7, “Spitfire”, Aaron Davis (lyrics), performed by Davis, Aaron [as Bugzy Malone], JDZ Media:
   • […]maks things as pleasant as stondin in a ginnel ov a wyndy neet waitin o'th' sweetheart comin out. 1885, Benjamin Brierley, Ab-o'th'-Yate in Yankeeland, page 59:
   • At the end of a short side-street a narrow ginnel with concrete bollards led into the surprisingly wide area in which the blocks of flats stood. 1988, Alan Hollinghurst, The Swimming-Pool Library, paperback edition, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 169:

Forms

Deriveds

snickelway

Synonyms

twitchel · snicket · ennog

Translations (5)

fi kuja (narrow passageway) · pl wąska alejka między budynkami (narrow passageway) · fi sola (narrow passageway) · fr venelle (narrow passageway) · de Gasse (narrow passageway)