Gaol
/dʒeɪl/noun
A prison or place of confinement.
Did you know?In English, *gaol* and *jail* are the same word: the spelling *gaol* preserves an older French-influenced form that arrived through medieval law, not a separate meaning.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*galōn?
“to call, summon (uncertain reconstruction; not the source of modern gaol)”
Old French
OF
gaiole / jaiole
“a cage, prison”
Middle English
ME
gaiole
“a prison or cage”
14th–17th Century
English
gaol
“a prison”
Modern English
English
jail / gaol
“a prison”