tile

English Online Dictionary. What means tile‎? What does tile mean?

English

Pronunciation

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

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.
2. (computing) A rectangular graphic.

3. Any of various flat cuboid playing pieces used in certain games, such as dominoes, Scrabble, or mahjong.
4. (dated, informal) A stiff 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.

Derived terms

Descendants

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

Translations

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To cover with tiles.
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

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.

See also

• Tile Hill

Anagrams

• -lite, IELT, Tiel, lite, teil, tiel

Bambara

Noun

tìlé

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

Derived terms

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

Derived terms

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

Mutation

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “tile”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “tile”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “tile”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2025

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈti.le/

Adjective

tile

1. inflection of til:
   1. strong accusative feminine singular
   2. strong instrumental masculine/neuter singular
   3. strong nominative/accusative masculine/feminine plural
   4. weak nominative feminine/neuter singular
   5. weak accusative neuter singular

Pali

Alternative forms

Noun

tile

1. locative singular of tila (“sesame”)

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Pipil tlilli.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtile/ [ˈt̪i.le]
• Rhymes: -ile
• Syllabification: ti‧le

Noun

tile m (plural tiles)

1. (El Salvador, Honduras) soot

   Synonyms: hollín, negrumo

2. (poetic, Honduras) darkness

   Synonym: oscuridad

Adjective

tile m or f (masculine and feminine plural tiles)

1. (colloquial, Honduras) hard, complicated

   Synonyms: dipisil, complicado

Further reading

• “tile”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10
• tile | Diccionario de americanismos | ASALE