Etymology

tile

T1I1L1E1

Today it means: A regularly-shaped slab of clay or other material, affixed to cover or decorate a surface, as in a roof-tile, glazed tile, stove tile, carpet tile, etc. Full definition →

Middle English tile ← Old English tiġele ← Proto-West Germanic *tigulā
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tile · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*(s)teg-
  2. Latintēgula
  3. Proto-Germanic*tigulǭ
  4. Proto-West Germanic*tigulā
  5. Old Englishtiġele
  6. Middle Englishtile
  7. English todaytile

From Middle English tile, tyl, tigel, tiȝel, teȝele, from Old English tiġele, tieġle, tiġle (“tile, brick”), from Proto-West Germanic *tigulā (“tile, brick”), from Proto-Germanic *tigulǭ (“tile, brick”), from Latin tēgula, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“to cover”). Doublet of tegula. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tichel (“tile”), Dutch tichel (“brick”), tegel (“tile”), German Ziegel (“brick, roof tile”), Luxembourgish Zill (“brick, tile”), Danish tegl (“brick”), Faroese tigul (“tile”), Icelandic tigl (“brick, tile”), Norwegian Nynorsk tegl (“brick, roof tile”), Swedish tegel (“brick, tile”), Asturian teya (“tile”), Catalan teula (“tile”), French tuile (“tile”), Galician telha, tella (“roof tile”), Italian tegola (“roof tile”), Mirandese teilha (“roof tile”), Portuguese telha (“roof tile”), Spanish teja (“roof tile”), Belarusian цэ́гла (céhla, “brick”), Czech cihla (“brick”), Polish cegła (“brick”), Serbo-Croatian cígla (“brick”), Ukrainian це́гла (céhla, “brick”), Finnish tiili (“brick, tile”).

tile · verb2

See tiler (“doorkeeper at a Masonic lodge”).

Words from the same roots

Latintēgula all →

tegulatuille

Proto-Indo-European*(s)teg- all →

staythatchstaccatosea stack

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.