sile.
A column; pillar.
Meaning & usage
A column; pillar.
A beam; rafter; one of the principal rafters of a building.
The foot or lower part of a couple or rafter; base.
A roof rafter or couple, usually one of a pair.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English syle, from Old English sȳl (“column, pillar, support”), from Proto-West Germanic *sūli, from Proto-Germanic *sūliz (“beam, post, column, pillar”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱsewl-, *ḱswel- (“log”), from *ḱsew-, *ḱes- (“to scratch, comb”). Cognate with Dutch zuil (“pillar”), German Säule (“column, pillar”), Norwegian søyle (“pillar”), Icelandic súla (“column”), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌿𐌻𐍃 (sauls, “pillar”).
To strain, as milk; pass through a strainer or anything similar; filter.
To flow down; drip; drop; fall; sink.
To settle down; calm or compose oneself.
To go; pass.
To boil gently; simmer.
To pour with rain.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English silen, sylen, from Middle Low German silen ("to let off water, filter, strain"; > Low German silen, sielen), equivalent to sie (“to filter, strain”) + -le. Cognate with German sielen (“let off water, filter”), Swedish sila (“to strain, filter, sift”), German Siel (“drain, sewer, sluice”).
A sieve.
A strainer or colander for liquids
That which is sifted or strained, hence, settlings; sediment; filth.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English silen, sylen, from Middle Low German silen ("to let off water, filter, strain"; > Low German silen, sielen), equivalent to sie (“to filter, strain”) + -le. Cognate with German sielen (“let off water, filter”), Swedish sila (“to strain, filter, sift”), German Siel (“drain, sewer, sluice”).
A young herring.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English *sile, from Old Norse síl (“herring”), from Proto-Germanic *sīlą, *sīlō (“herring”), of unknown origin. Cognate with Icelandic síld (“herring”), Norwegian and Danish sild (“herring”), dialectal Swedish sil (“young fish, fry”). Compare sild.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.