English

Alternative forms

• Karl

Proper noun

Carl

1. A male given name.
   • 1882 Doctor Carl, in Frank Leslie's Pleasant Hours, F. Leslie Pub. Co., 1882, Volume 31, page 293:

     Of course you know that Carl Duruside, or 'Doctor Carl', as he is always called by almost anybody, is my husband's brother?

   • 1919 Lucy Maud Montgomery, Rainbow Valley, 1st World Publishing (2007), ISBN 142184298X, page 19:

     And Thomas Carlyle is nine. They call him Carl, and he has a regular mania for collecting toads and bugs and frogs and bringing them into the house.

   • 2004 David W. Scott, The Disillusioned:A Story of Our Times, Fraser Books, ISBN 0958233284, page 204:

     I'd weave through the throng — scanning for empties to return while flirting, sniffing out kids smoking grass and sharing smokes with Ivor and Carl on the door. With a name like Carl you can imagine a six-foot tall and wide bouncer, but Ivor...

Translations

Etymology 2

Shortening.

Noun

Carl ‎(plural Carls)

1. (informal) A student at Carleton College, Minnesota.
   • 2005, Adam Zang, Jendrey Julie, Chris Mason, Carleton College

     Located in rural Minnesota, Carleton is not surrounded by any cultural diversity unless you count pig farms and cow farms as separately diverse institutions. The nice thing about Carleton is that Carls are pretty much non-judgmental […]

Anagrams

• ACLR

Danish

Proper noun

Carl

1. A male given name, a spelling variant of Karl.

References

• Danskernes Navne, based on CPR data: 42 636 males with the given name Carl (compared to 42 958 named Karl) have been registered in Denmark between about 1890 (=the population alive in 1967) and January 2005, with the frequency peak in the 19th century. Accessed on 19 June 2011.

German

Proper noun

Carl

1. A male given name, a less common spelling of Karl.

Norwegian

Proper noun

Carl

1. A male given name, a less common spelling of Karl.

References

• Statistisk sentralbyrå, Namnestatistikk: 3 726 males with the given name Carl (compared to 9 245 named Karl) living in Norway on January 1st 2011, with the frequency peak in the 19th century. Accessed on 19 May, 2011.

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaːl/, /kaːɭ/
• Homophones: Karl, kal (only if pronunciated /kaːl/)

Proper noun

Carl

1. A male given name, a spelling variant of Karl.

References

• Statistiska centralbyrån and Sture Allén, Staffan Wåhlin, Förnamnsboken, Norstedts 1995, ISBN 9119551622: 125 372 males with the given name Carl (compared to 209 909 named Karl) living in Sweden on December 31st, 2010, with the frequency peak in the 1990s. Accessed on 19 June 2011.

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɑː(ɹ)l/

Noun

carl ‎(plural carls)

1. A rude, rustic man; a churl.
   • 1974, In Lent noblemen and carls alike had got into the traces and pulled the carts of stone themselves. — Guy Davenport, Tatlin!

Etymology 2

Origin uncertain.

Alternative forms

• carle

Verb

carl ‎(third-person singular simple present carls, present participle carling, simple past and past participle carled)

1. (obsolete) To snarl; to talk grumpily or gruffly.
   • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, New York 2001, p.210:

     […] full of ache, sorrow, and grief, children again, dizzards, they carle many times as they sit, and talk to themselves, they are angry, waspish, displeased with everything […].

Anagrams

• ACLR

Old English

Etymology

From Old Norse karl (Swedish karl ‎(“man”)), from Proto-Germanic *karlaz. Cognate with Old High German karl, karal and related to Old English ċeorl.

Noun

carl m

1. a freeman, a man of middle rank or social class (in Norse and Anglo-Saxon society)