Meanings
plural kilns · alternative rare kill
- An oven or furnace or a heated chamber, for the purpose of hardening, burning, calcining or drying anything; for example, firing ceramics, curing or preserving tobacco, or drying grain.
One typical Grecian kiln engorged one thousand muleloads of juniper wood in a single burn. Fifty such kilns would devour six thousand metric tons of trees and brush annually.
2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion
Origin
- Latinculīna“kitchen, kitchen stove”
- Old Englishcyln
- Middle Englishkilne
- Englishkiln
From Middle English kilne, from Old English cyln, cylen, cylin (“large oven, kiln”), from Latin culīna (“kitchen, kitchen stove”). Middle English -ln(e) usually becomes modern -ll as in mill. The pronunciation /kɪln/ may be based on dialects in which this simplification did not take place, but it must have been at least reinforced by spelling pronunciation.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic فُرْن
- فُرْن (furn)oven, furnace or heated chamber
Bulgarian керамична пещ, варова пещ
- керамична пещ (keramična pešt)oven, furnace or heated chamber
- варова пещ (varova pešt)oven, furnace or heated chamber
Catalan forn
- fornoven, furnace or heated chamber
Chinese Mandarin 窯 /窑
- 窯 /窑 (yáo)oven, furnace or heated chamber
Czech vypalovací pec
- vypalovací pecoven, furnace or heated chamber
Dutch oven, drooghut
- ovenoven, furnace or heated chamber
- drooghutoven, furnace or heated chamber
- droogkameroven, furnace or heated chamber
Estonian põletusahi
- põletusahioven, furnace or heated chamber
Finnish uuni, riihi
- uunioven, furnace or heated chamber
- riihioven, furnace or heated chamber
- kuivaamooven, furnace or heated chamber
- kuivurioven, furnace or heated chamber
French four, touraille
- fouroven, furnace or heated chamber
- tourailleoven, furnace or heated chamber
German Brennofen, Dörrofen
- Brennofenoven, furnace or heated chamber
- Dörrofenoven, furnace or heated chamber
- Darreoven, furnace or heated chamber
Hebrew כִּבְשָׁן
- כִּבְשָׁן (kivshán)oven, furnace or heated chamber
Hindi भट्ठा, भट्ठी
- भट्ठा (bhaṭṭhā)oven, furnace or heated chamber
- भट्ठी (bhaṭṭhī)oven, furnace or heated chamber
Hungarian égetőkemence, boksa
- égetőkemenceoven, furnace or heated chamber
- boksaoven, furnace or heated chamber
Irish áith
- áithoven, furnace or heated chamber
Italian fornace
- fornaceoven, furnace or heated chamber
Japanese 窯, 炉
- 窯 (kama)oven, furnace or heated chamber
- 炉 (ro)oven, furnace or heated chamber
Korean 가마
- 가마 (gama)oven, furnace or heated chamber
Latin fornāx
- fornāxoven, furnace or heated chamber
Latvian ceplis
- ceplisoven, furnace or heated chamber
Māori umutahu
- umutahuoven, furnace or heated chamber
Persian کوره, تون
- کوره (kure)oven, furnace or heated chamber
- تون (tun)oven, furnace or heated chamber
Polish suszarnia, piec do wypalania cegły
- suszarniaoven, furnace or heated chamber
- piec do wypalania cegłyoven, furnace or heated chamber
Portuguese fornaça
- fornaçaoven, furnace or heated chamber
Russian суши́льная печь, печь для о́бжига и су́шки
- суши́льная печь (sušílʹnaja pečʹ)oven, furnace or heated chamber
- печь для о́бжига и су́шки (pečʹ dlja óbžiga i súški)oven, furnace or heated chamber
Scottish Gaelic àth
- àthoven, furnace or heated chamber
Spanish horno
- hornooven, furnace or heated chamber
Swahili tanuri
- tanurioven, furnace or heated chamber
Swedish kölna, torkugn
- kölnaoven, furnace or heated chamber
- torkugnoven, furnace or heated chamber
- torkhusoven, furnace or heated chamber
- brännugnoven, furnace or heated chamber
Tamil சூளை
- சூளை (cūḷai)oven, furnace or heated chamber
Thai เตาเผา
- เตาเผา (dtao păo)oven, furnace or heated chamber
Turkish kireç ocağı
- kireç ocağıoven, furnace or heated chamber
Vietnamese lò
- lòoven, furnace or heated chamber
Welsh odyn
- odynoven, furnace or heated chamber
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with kiln
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
kiln. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kiln
“kiln.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kiln. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kiln,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kiln.
Source: kiln on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.