tile

tile

English

tiles

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /taɪl/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtaɪ.əl/
• Rhymes: -aɪl

Etymology 1

From Middle English tile, tyle, tigel, tiȝel, teȝele, from Old English tieġle, tiġle, tiġele (“tile; brick”), from Proto-West Germanic *tigulā, from Proto-Germanic *tigulǭ (“tile”), from Latin tēgula. Doublet of tegula.

Cognates

Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tichel (“tile”), West Frisian teil, tegel, tichel (“tile”), Dutch tichel, tegel (“tile”), German Ziegel (“brick; tile”), Danish tegl (“brick”), Swedish tegel (“brick; tile”), Icelandic tigl (“tile; brick”).

Noun

tile (plural tiles)

1. 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.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess‎:

     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.

2. (computing) A rectangular graphic.

   Each tile within the map consists of 256 × 256 pixels.

   Sprites and tiles that are hidden in the prototype ROM file can be recovered.

3. Any of various flat cuboid playing pieces used in certain games, such as dominoes, Scrabble, or mahjong.
4. (dated, informal) A stiff hat.
   • 1865, Charles Dickens, Doctor Marigold's Prescriptions, Chapter III

     Tile - Tile, a Hat.

   • 1911, Charles Collins, Fred E. Terry and E.A. Sheppard, "Any Old Iron", British Music Hall song

     Dressed in style, brand-new tile, And your father's old green tie on.

   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, OCLC 1029993343:

     Thus, when old Doctor Meldrum, with his well-known curly-brimmed opera-hat, appeared upon the platform, there was such a universal query of "Where did you get that tile?" that he hurriedly removed it, and concealed it furtively under his chair.

Derived terms

• field tile
• glazed tile
• out on the tiles
• roof tile
• tilefish
• tilework

 

Descendants

• → Bengali: টালি (ṭali)
• → Japanese: タイル (tairu)
• → Korean: 타일 (tail)
• → Nepali: टाइल (ṭāil)
• → Oriya: ଟାଇଲ୍ (ṭail)
• → Welsh: teils

Translations

sheet of ceramic or fired clay to cover surfaces

Albanian: tjegull (sq), pllakë (sq) Arabic: قِرْمِيدَة‎ f (qirmīda), قِرْمِيد‎ (qirmīd) (collective); بَلَاط‎ m (balāṭ) Armenian: կղմինդր (hy) (kłmindr), հախճասալ (hy) (haxčasal) Avar: щегӏ (ššeʻ) Azerbaijani: kaşı Basque: lauza Belarusian: ка́фля f (káflja), плі́тка f (plítka) Bengali: টালি (bn) (ṭali) Bulgarian: пло́чка (bg) f (plóčka) Burmese: အုတ်ကြွပ် (my) (utkrwap) Catalan: teula (ca) f, rajola (ca) f Chechen: гериг (gerig) Chinese: Mandarin: 瓦 (zh) (wǎ), 磚瓦／砖瓦 (zh) (zhuānwǎ) Crimean Tatar: kiramet Czech: dlaždice f (floor tile), kachle f, obkladačka f (wall tile), taška (cs) f (roof tile) Danish: tegl (da) c or n (roof tile), klinke c (floor tile), flise c (wall tile) Dutch: tegel (nl) m, vloertegel (nl) f, muurtegel m, pan (nl) f, dakpan (nl) f Esperanto: kahelo, tegolo (eo) (roof tile) Estonian: please add this translation if you can Faroese: flís f (floor tile), tigul m (roof tile) Finnish: laatta (fi) (any); kaakeli (fi) (glazed) French: carreau (de carrelage) m, tuile (fr) f Galician: tella (gl) f Georgian: კრამიტი (ḳramiṭi) German: Kachel (de) f, Fliese (de) f, Dachziegel (de) m (roof tile) Alemannic German: Chachele f Greek: πλακίδιο (el) n (plakídio), πλακάκι (el) n (plakáki), κεραμίδι (el) n (keramídi) (roof tile) Ancient: κέραμος m (kéramos), κεραμίς f (keramís) Hindi: टाइल f (ṭāil) Hungarian: cserép (hu), csempe (hu) Ingush: гарг (garg) Irish: tíl Italian: piastrella (it) f, mattonella (it) f (floor and wall tile), tegola (it) f, coppo (it) m (roof tile) Japanese: タイル (ja) (tairu), (roof tile) 瓦 (ja) (かわら, kawara) Khmer: ក្បឿង (km) (kbɨəng), ការ៉ូ (kaarou) (glazed) Korean: 타일 (ko) (tail), 기와 (ko) (giwa) Lao: ກະເບື້ອງ (lo) (ka bư̄ang) Latin: tēgula f Latvian: flīze f Lezgi: сахси (saχsi) Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can Macedonian: пло́чка f (plóčka) (floor and wall tile), ќера́мида f (ḱerámida) (roof tile) Malay: jubin (ms) Maori: tāpa, taera Nepali: टाइल (ṭāil) Norwegian: Bokmål: (roof) takstein m, tegl n, teglstein (no) m, (elsewhere) flis m or f Nynorsk: (roof) takstein m, tegl n, teglstein m, (elsewhere) flis f Occitan: teule (oc) m Old English: tiġele f Oriya: ଟାଇଲ୍ (or) (ṭail) Persian: کاشی‎ (fa) (kâši), سفال‎ (fa) (sofâl) Polish: kafel (pl) m, kafelek (pl) m, fliza (pl) f, płytka (pl) f Portuguese: azulejo (pt) m (glazed tile), ladrilho (pt) m, telha (pt) f (roof tile) Romanian: țiglă (ro) f, olan (ro) n, placă (ro) f Russian: пли́тка (ru) f (plítka), (glazed tile) ка́фель (ru) m (káfelʹ), (roof tile) черепи́ца (ru) f (čerepíca), плита́ (ru) f (plitá) (larger) Scottish Gaelic: leacag f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: пло̏чица f, ка̑љ m Roman: plȍčica (sh) f, kȃlj (sh) m Slovak: dlaždica f Slovene: ploščica f, plošča (sl) f Spanish: (glazed tile) azulejo (es) m, alicatado (es) m, (floor tile) baldosa (es) f, (roof tile) teja (es) f Swahili: kigae Swedish: taktegel (sv) Thai: กระเบื้อง (th) (grà-bʉ̂ʉang) Turkish: kiremit (tr), karo (tr) Ukrainian: пли́тка f (plýtka) Vietnamese: (roof tile) ngói (vi), đá lát, gạch (vi) Zhuang: vax

rectangular graphic

Finnish: tiili (fi) Spanish: tesela (es) f Vietnamese: mảnh (vi), mảng (vi)

flat cuboid playing piece used in certain games

Finnish: laatta (fi), nappula (fi) Spanish: ficha (es) f Vietnamese: quân (vi), (con) bài, quân bài

Verb

tile (third-person singular simple present tiles, present participle tiling, simple past and past participle tiled)

1. (transitive) To cover with tiles.
   • 1980, Robert M. Jones, editor, Walls and Ceilings, Time-Life Books, →ISBN, page 38:

     Some professionals begin tiling a wall by setting a full tile in the most visually prominent corner […]

   The handyman tiled the kitchen.

   White marble tiled the bathroom.

2. (graphical user interface) To arrange in a regular pattern, with adjoining edges (applied to tile-like objects, graphics, windows in a computer interface).
3. (computing theory) To optimize (a loop in program code) by means of the tiling technique.
4. (Freemasonry) To seal a lodge against intrusions from unauthorised people.

Derived terms

• tiler

Translations

to cover with tiles

Arabic: قَرْمَدَ‎ (qarmada) Catalan: enrajolar (ca) (floor), teular (ca) (roof) Czech: dlaždit impf, obložit pf Danish: beklæde med fliser (wall tiles) Dutch: tegelen (nl), betegelen (nl) Esperanto: kaheli, tegoli (roof) Finnish: laatoittaa (fi) French: tuiler (fr) Galician: tellar (gl), faiar German: fliesen (de), kacheln (de), (roof) decken (de) Greek: πλακοστρώνω (el) (plakostróno), στρώνω με πλακάκια (stróno me plakákia) Hungarian: csempéz (hu), cserepez, burkol (hu), befed (hu) Italian: piastrellare Norwegian: Bokmål: flislegge Polish: kafelkować impf, kłaść plytki Portuguese: azulejar (pt), ladrilhar (pt), telhar (pt) Spanish: alicatar (es), azulejar (es), poner azulejos a, embaldosar (es), tejar (es) (roof), embaldosinar (es) (Colombia)

computing: to arrange in regular pattern

Finnish: tiilittää (fi) German: parzellieren (de)

Etymology 2

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

Alternative forms

• tyle

Verb

tile (third-person singular simple present tiles, present participle tiling, simple past and past participle tiled)

1. To protect from the intrusion of the uninitiated.

   to tile a Masonic lodge

   tile the door

See also

• Tile Hill

Anagrams

• -lite, IELT, Tiel, lite, teil, tiel

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Bambara

Noun

tìlé

1. sun
2. day, daytime, the heat of the day
3. epoch, era

Derived terms

• tilebɛnnan
• tilebinyanfan
• tilefana
• tilegan
• tilela
• tilema
• tilen
• tilenunɛti
• tilesekuncɛ

 

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Irish

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

tile m (genitive singular tile, nominative plural tilí)

1. (nautical, literary) board, plank (of boat)
2. (nautical)
   1. sheets
   2. poop

Declension

Declension of tile

Fourth declension

Bare forms Case Singular Plural Nominative tile tilí Vocative a thile a thilí Genitive tile tilí Dative tile tilí

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Plural Nominative an tile na tilí Genitive an tile na dtilí Dative leis an tile don tile leis na tilí

Derived terms

• ráille tile (“poop-rail”)
• tile ceathrún (“quarter-deck”)
• tile deiridh (“stern-sheet”)
• tile tosaigh (“fore-sheet”)

 

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
tile	thile	dtile
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “tile”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Entries containing “tile” in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm, 1959, by Tomás de Bhaldraithe.
• Entries containing “tile” in New English-Irish Dictionary by Foras na Gaeilge.

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Pali

Alternative forms

Alternative forms

• 𑀢𑀺𑀮𑁂 (Brahmi script)
• तिले (Devanagari script)
• তিলে (Bengali script)
• තිලෙ (Sinhalese script)
• တိလေ (Burmese script)
• ติเล (Thai script)
• ᨲᩥᩃᩮ (Tai Tham script)
• ຕິເລ (Lao script)
• តិលេ (Khmer script)
• 𑄖𑄨𑄣𑄬 (Chakma script)

Noun

tile

1. locative singular of tila (“sesame”)