Meanings
vial1
plural vials
- A glass or plastic vessel or bottle, especially a small tube-shaped bottle used to store medicine, perfume or other chemicals.
Take thou this vial, being then in bed, / And this distilled liquor drink thou off.
c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]1 more example
And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 16:3Synonyms: phial, beaker, burette, cruet, flask, jar, phial, test tube
present singular third person vials · US participle present vialing · UK participle present vialling · US participle past vialed · US past vialed · UK participle past vialled · UK past vialled
Vial2
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA glass or plastic vessel or bottle, especially a small tube-shaped bottle used to store medicine, perfume or other chemicals.
verbTo keep or put (something, especially a liquid) in, or as if in, a vial (noun sense).
More synonyms by meaning
nouna small bottle that contains a drug (especially a sealed sterile container for injection by needle)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishvial
- Englishvial
From Middle English vial, viole, a variant of fiole, phiole, phial (“small bowl or cup for liquids, etc.; flask”) [and other forms]: see further at phial. Doublet of phiale.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic أُنبوب
- أُنبوبsmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Bulgarian шише́нце, флако́н
- шише́нце (šišénce)small tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
- флако́н (flakón)small tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Catalan fiola
- fiolasmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Czech fióla, lahvička
- fiólasmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
- lahvičkasmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Danish hætteglas
- hætteglassmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Dutch fiool, medcijnfles
- fioolsmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
- medcijnflessmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Esperanto fiolo, boteleto
- fiolosmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
- boteletosmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Estonian viaal
- viaalsmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Finnish lääkepullo, näytepullo
- lääkepullosmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
- näytepullosmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
- pikkupullosmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
French fiole
- fiolesmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
German Phiole
- Phiolesmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Greek αμπούλα
- αμπούλα (ampoúla)small tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Hindi शीशी
- शीशी (śīśī)small tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Hungarian fiola, üvegcse
- fiolasmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
- üvegcsesmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Irish fial
- fialsmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Italian fiala
- fialasmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Japanese 小瓶, 薬瓶
- 小瓶 (kobin)small tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
- 薬瓶 (kusuribin)small tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
- バイアル (baiaru)small tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Korean 유리병, 약병
- 유리병 (yuribyeong)small tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
- 약병 (yakbyeong)small tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
- 바이알 (baial)small tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Latin fiola
- fiolasmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Polish fiolka
- fiolkasmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Portuguese frasco
- frascosmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Romanian fiolă
- fiolăsmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Russian буты́лочка, пузырёк
- буты́лочка (butýločka)small tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
- пузырёк (puzyrjók)small tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
- флако́н (flakón)small tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
- скля́нка (skljánka)small tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Slovak fľaštička, liekovka
- fľaštičkasmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
- liekovkasmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Spanish frasco, vial
- frascosmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
- vialsmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Swahili chupa
- chupasmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Tagalog redoma
- redomasmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Turkish viyal
- viyalsmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Ukrainian флако́н, пля́шечка
- флако́н (flakón)small tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
- пля́шечка (pljášečka)small tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Urdu شِیشی
- شِیشی (śīśī)small tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Vietnamese lọ, lọ nhỏ
- lọsmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
- lọ nhỏsmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Welsh ffiol
- ffiolsmall tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with vial
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
vial. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vial
“vial.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vial. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “vial,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vial.
Source: vial on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.