Pal

//pæl// name, noun, verb, slang

name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Acronym of phase alternating/alternation/alternated line (TV standard). abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, uncountable
  2. 2
    A friend, buddy, mate, cobber; someone to hang around with. colloquial

    "Little Timmy's out playing with his pals."

  3. 3
    Alternative form of paul (“kind of tent”). alt-of, alternative
  4. 4
    Palestinian. informal, slang

    "Saeb Erekat, who negotiates for Palestine, is one of the most famous Pals in the world."

  5. 5
    a close friend who accompanies their buddies in their activities wordnet
Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    Acronym of programmable array logic. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable
  2. 7
    An informal term of address, often used ironically in a hostile way. colloquial

    "Don't you threaten me, pal – I'll report you to the police."

  3. 8
    Initialism of phenylalanine ammonia lyase. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
  4. 9
    Acronym of permissive-action link. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable
  5. 10
    Acronym of prisoner at large. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable
  6. 11
    Acronym of peer-assisted learning. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    Synonym of pal around.

    "As an adult, she moved to New York and palled with trip-hop artist Tricky, who signed her to his own label."

  2. 2
    become friends; act friendly towards wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    Initialism of Police Athletic League. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
  2. 2
    A language of Papua New Guinea.
  3. 3
    Palestine. informal, slang
  4. 4
    Initialism of Paedophile Action for Liberation. abbreviation, alt-of, historical, initialism
  5. 5
    Acronym of Philippine Airlines, a flag carrier of the Philippines Philippines, abbreviation, acronym, alt-of

Synonyms

All synonyms
buddyfriendaceamigoassociateassociate with

Example

More examples

"I halved the money with my pal."

Etymology

PIE word *bʰréh₂tēr Borrowed from Angloromani pal (“brother, friend”), from Romani phral (“brother”), from Sanskrit भ्रातृ (bhrātṛ, “brother”). Doublet of bhai, brother, bru, frater, friar, and vai.

Related phrases

Palentine's Daye-palpal aroundpal uppals battalionpen palsex palhang aroundpalsy walsypapua new guinea

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.