Tail

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /teɪl/

Definitions

1. One definition refers to the elongated appendage at the rear of an animal’s body, while another can describe the hindmost part of something, and additionally, it also indicates a sequence that follows in order
2. A specific appendage commonly found on animals is located behind the body
3. it may also refer to the rear portion of an object, and it can denote a following sequence that comes after

Etymology: The tail of an animal is traced back to a word for hair. Old English "tæġel" and "tæġl" came from a Proto-Germanic root meaning hair or fibre, and that same root survives in German "Zagel," Icelandic "tagl," and Gothic "tagl," all meaning hair or tail. The ultimate source is thought to be a Proto-Indo-European root meaning to tear, fray or shred, which suggests the earliest sense was something frayed or fringed, like a tuft of hair. The sense of a rear extension on an animal sits in that same family of meanings, and this is the older use. Later English extended "tail" to the back or end of many things, from a coat to a line of people. Some of these extended senses probably arose from the everyday contrast between head and tail, though the exact steps are not fully documented. The verb to tail, meaning to follow someone closely, is a separate development. It is recorded from Anglo-Norman, where it probably came from a shortened form of "entail," the legal term for fixing the inheritance of an estate. Its link to the animal part is therefore indirect.

Synonyms: appendage, extremity, end, back, rear

Antonyms: head, front, beginning, forepart, fore