Etymology

A borrowing from Russian пе́кло ‎(péklo, “****”), dialectal пекл ‎(pekl) (from Old Church Slavonic пькълъ ‎(pĭkŭlŭ, “tar”), from Latin picula ‎(“tar”)). Its ending may also have been influenced by elle. It is first mentioned in 18th-century dictionaries. In some dialects, it also means “abyss.”^[1]