In turn, the Proto-Germanic form derives from the o-grade form of the Proto-Indo-European root * kel-, * kol-: 'to cover, conceal, save'. All forms ultimately derive from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic feminine noun * xaljō or * haljō ('concealed place, the underworld'). The word has cognates in all branches of the Germanic languages, including Old Norse hel (which refers to both a location and goddess-like being in Norse mythology), Old Frisian helle, Old Saxon hellia, Old High German hella, and Gothic halja.

The modern English word hell is derived from Old English hel, helle (first attested around 725 AD to refer to a nether world of the dead) reaching into the Anglo-Saxon pagan period. Hel (1889) by Johannes Gehrts, depicts the Old Norse Hel, a goddess-like figure, in the location of the same name, which she oversees The ancient Mesopotamian, Greek, Roman, and Finnic religions include entrances to the underworld from the land of the living. Such places are sometimes equated with the English word hell, though a more correct translation would be 'underworld' or 'world of the dead'. Other religions, which do not conceive of the afterlife as a place of punishment or reward, merely describe an abode of the dead, the grave, a neutral place that is located under the surface of Earth (for example, see Kur, Hades, and Sheol). Other afterlife destinations include heaven, paradise, purgatory, limbo, and the underworld.

Religions typically locate hell in another dimension or under Earth's surface. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as eternal destinations, the biggest examples of which are Christianity and Islam, whereas religions with reincarnation usually depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations, as is the case in the dharmic religions. In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death.

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