keel

UK/kiːl/

nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,686 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: keels

A keel is the long fin under a boat that keeps it upright. A deep keel, the boat's keel, run aground on the keel.

It does two jobs: the weight in it resists heeling, and the blade of it resists sideways slip, which is what lets a sailing boat go against the wind at all. On an even keel means steady and balanced. Laying the keel is the start of building a ship.

Definitions of keel

1nounkeelThe long fin under a boat that keeps it upright.B2+
“The boat ran aground, and the rocks scraped along its keel.”

keel is a part of a boat.

Where it comes from

Middle English kele comes from Old Norse kjolr, a keel, replacing the related Old English ceol.

Proto-Germanic
*keluz
Old Norse
kjǫlr
Middle English
kele
English, today
keel

From Middle English kele, from Old Norse kjǫlr, itself from Proto-Germanic keluz, of uncertain origin. Displaced Old English ceol from a related root. Distantly related to a doublet of kile.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Sea & Sailing

Practise this word

keel in the wild

A keelboat is a sailboat with a keel and ballast to help keep the boat upright, as opposed to a dinghy.
Keelboat
Another variant, the keel arch, has partially straight rather than curved sides and developed in Fatimid architecture.
Four-centred arch
Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction.
Keel laying
Earlier, the event recognized as the keel laying was the initial placement of the central timber making up the backbone of a vessel, called the keel.
Keel laying
The stem is the most forward part of a boat or ship's bow and is an extension of the keel itself.
Stem (ship)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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