runnel

Also run·let

[ruhn-l]

noun

1. a small stream; brook; rivulet.

2. a small channel, as for water.

runnel

/ ˈrʌnəl /

noun

1. literary,  a small stream

Word History and Origins

Origin of runnel¹

First recorded in 1570–80; run (in the sense “small stream”) + -el diminutive suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of runnel¹

C16: from Old English rynele ; related to _run

Example Sentences

A few rickety huts were plunked onto the mud, far from the runnels of the dropping tide.

Read more on Washington Post

It’s outfitted with grooves known as runnels, for bicyclists to roll their tires.

Read more on Seattle Times

All this lethal offal seeped and oozed into the ground, into the rills and runnels that flowed beneath our town, where we all drank well-water.

Read more on New York Times

Reported the San Francisco Chronicle: “The sidewalks and runnels were strewn with the relics of a torturous month.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

He stared at the daubs and streaks and runnels of red, and this newest mystery, it wasn’t a pathway of light burning lines through his mind.

Read more on Literature

Related Words

• current 
• flood 
• flow 
• rush 
• spate 
• surge 
• tide 
• torrent 
• tributary