tile
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tile¹
- /taɪl/ UK
- /ˈtaɪ.əl/ US
Rhymes with -aɪl
Where it comes from
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”).
noun tiles
- 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. Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind.
- A rectangular graphic. Each tile within the map consists of 256 × 256 pixels.
- Any of various flat cuboid playing pieces used in certain games, such as dominoes, Scrabble, or mahjong. One hot summer day in the Chinese city of Nan-ning, I wandered through a park of lotus leaves and exotic flowers to a pagoda where ancient women sat, drowsily, happily playing mahjongg amidst the scent of flowers, and that excellent sound of clicking tiles enchanted me; I was far from home, but that
- A stiff hat. Tile - Tile, a Hat.
- A Lego piece that is 1/3 the height of a brick, and is smooth without studs on top.
verb tiles · tiling · tiled
- To cover with tiles. The handyman tiled the kitchen.
- To arrange in a regular pattern, with adjoining edges (applied to tile-like objects, graphics, windows in a computer interface).
- To optimize (a loop in program code) by means of the tiling technique.
- To seal a lodge against intrusions from unauthorised people.
tile²
- /taɪl/ UK
- /ˈtaɪ.əl/ US
Rhymes with -aɪl
Where it comes from
See tiler (“doorkeeper at a Masonic lodge”).
verb tiles · tiling · tiled · tyle
- To protect from the intrusion of the uninitiated. to tile a Masonic lodge
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: roofing tile, slab, brick, gypsum, panel, pane, tessera, flooring, roof, window, jigsaw, table, box, sewage, underground, mosaic
Translations
Every language
noun sheet of ceramic or fired clay to cover surfaces
| Español | azulejo, alicatado, baldosa, teja, loseta, baldosín |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 타일 tail, 기와 giwa |
| 日本語 | タイル tairu, 瓦 kawara |
| 中文 | 瓦 wǎ, 磚瓦 /砖瓦 zhuānwǎ |
| हिन्दी | टाइल ṭāil |
| Kiswahili | kigae |
| Português | azulejo, ladrilho, telha |
| Français | carreau (de carrelage), tuile |
| Deutsch | Kachel, Fliese, Dachziegel |
| Italiano | piastrella, mattonella, tegola, coppo |
| Ελληνικά | πλακίδιο plakídio, πλακάκι plakáki, κεραμίδι keramídi |
| Română | țiglă, olan, placă |
| Русский | пли́тка plítka, ка́фель káfelʹ, черепи́ца čerepíca, плита́ plitá |
| Tiếng Việt | ngói, đá lát, gạch |
| العربية | قِرْمِيدَة qirmīda, قِرْمِيد qirmīd, بَلَاط balāṭ |
| עברית | אָרִיחַ aríaẖ, מִרְצֶפֶת mirtzéfet, רַעַף rá'af |
verb to cover with tiles
| Español | alicatar, azulejar, poner azulejos a, embaldosar, tejar, embaldosinar |
|---|---|
| Português | azulejar, ladrilhar, telhar |
| Français | tuiler |
| Deutsch | fliesen, kacheln, decken |
| Italiano | piastrellare |
| Ελληνικά | πλακοστρώνω plakostróno, στρώνω με πλακάκια stróno me plakákia |
| العربية | قَرْمَدَ qarmada |
verb computing: to arrange in regular pattern
| 中文 | 平铺 píngpū |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | parzellieren |
Talk about this word "tile." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/tile. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026. tile. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/tile "tile." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 5, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/tile.Cite this
@misc{tile_2026,
title = {tile},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/tile},
urldate = {2026-11-05}
}
