Meaning
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.
Etymology
Origin: Old English
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg-der. Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-trom Proto-Indo-European *-tlom, *-dʰlom Latin -ula Latin tēgulabor. Proto-Germanic *tigulǭ Proto-West Germanic *tigulā Old English tiġele Middle English tile English tile 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”).
Synonyms & Antonyms
NYT Puzzle Appearances
Accepted in 25 recorded puzzles:
- 2026-09-08IACEFLT
- 2026-09-03TCEIKLN
- 2026-06-13IAEKLTV
- 2026-04-11LDIGEHT
- 2026-03-25LEINPTY
- 2026-02-08IBELNTU
- 2026-01-12IATECLZ
- 2025-11-29IATNHEL
- 2025-09-30IBTOLCE
- 2025-07-10LEPMINT
- 2025-07-03LEUMITV
- 2025-06-10TEMIGLZ
+13 earlier appearances in the archive.