aiguille

[ey-gweel, ey-gweel]

noun

1. a needlelike rock mass or mountain peak.

aiguille

/ ˈeɪɡwiːl, eɪˈɡwiːl /

noun

1. a rock mass or mountain peak shaped like a needle

2. an instrument for boring holes in rocks or masonry

aiguille

1. A sharply pointed mountain peak found in regions that have undergone intense glaciation. Aigulles are believed to be the remnants of the elevated areas separating two adjacent cirques.

Word History and Origins

Origin of aiguille¹

1810–20; < French: literally, needle < Vulgar Latin *acūcula, alteration of Late Latin acucula, equivalent to acu ( s ) needle + -cula -cule ¹; acicula

Word History and Origins

Origin of aiguille¹

C19: French, literally: needle

Example Sentences

The 62-year-old reportedly crashed into a stationary skier, a British man, on the Aiguille Rouge mountain in Les Arcs on Tuesday.

Read more on BBC

The film also shows him tackling the Himalayas in Nepal, and Aiguille Dibona, a 3,100-metre peak in the French Alps.

Read more on BBC

By day, you’re a regular tourist soaring skyward to 12,605ft on the Aiguille du Midi cable-car; by night, you’re vibing to legendary DJ Gilles Peterson’s set from the Planpraz pop-up stage, 6,565ft above sea level.

Read more on National Geographic

When I was 10, I had a cousin who got married in Chamonix, and while we were there, my father and I took the lift up to the Aiguille du Midi, and I was just amazed and thought, “I would love to live here.”

Read more on New York Times

In 2007, about 50 cubic metres of ice fell from Planpincieux, while in September last year a mass of ice broke away from the Glacier de la Charpoua, on the south-east side of the Aiguille Verte, on the French side of Mont Blanc.

Read more on The Guardian

Related Words

• crest 
• hill 
• mountain 
• pinnacle 
• roof 
• spike 
• summit