pile

pile · noun, verb¹

1. Latin · derived frompīla“pillar, pier”
2. Old French · derived frompile
3. Middle English · inherited frompyle
4. English todaypile

From Middle English pyle, from Old French pile, from Latin pīla (“pillar, pier”).

pile · noun, verb²

1. Latin · derived frompīlum“heavy javelin”
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*pīl
3. Old English · inherited frompīl
4. Middle English · inherited frompile
5. English todaypile

From Middle English pile, from Old English pīl, from Proto-West Germanic *pīl, from Latin pīlum (“heavy javelin”). Cognate with Dutch pijl, German Pfeil. Doublet of pilum.

pile · noun³

1. Late Latin · derived frompilus
2. English todaypile

Apparently from Late Latin pilus. Doublet of pilus.

pile · noun, verb⁴

1. Latin · derived frompilus“hair”
2. Anglo-Norman · derived frompil
3. Middle English · inherited frompile
4. English todaypile

From Middle English pile, partly from Anglo-Norman pil (a variant of peil, poil (“hair”)) and partly from its source, Latin pilus (“hair”). Doublet of pilus.

pile · noun⁵

1. French · borrowed frompile“battery”
2. English todaypile

From French pile (“battery”), with the pronunciation adapted to the existing English word pile. Doublet of Etymology 1, which may have influenced the sense development by emphasizing the stack (“pile”) out of which early batteries were made.

Words from the same roots