Shoal
/ʃoʊl/noun
A shallow place in a body of water, or a sandbank; also, a large group of fish.
Did you know?Shoal is etymologically tied to the idea of being shallow or low, and its “group of fish” sense came later from the image of fish gathering in a shallow mass.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*skel-
“to be crooked, bent; later associated with shallow/low ground in Germanic developments”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*skulaz / *skelaz
“shallow, low-lying”
Old English
English
sceald
“shallow, not deep”
Middle English
English
schal / shal
“shallow water; a shallow place or bank”
16th Century
English
shoal
“a shallow place in water; a sandbank”
17th Century
English
shoal
“a large number of fish swimming together”