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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

spile.

A splinter.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/spaɪl/
  1. A splinter.

    Cumbria · dialectal · obsolete
  2. A spigot or plug used to stop the hole in a barrel or cask.

  3. A spout inserted in a maple (or other tree) to draw off sap.

    US
Where this word comes from

From Middle Dutch or Middle Low German spile (“splinter, peg”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *spīlaz (“splinter, peg”), from Proto-Indo-European *spey- (“prickle, pointed stick”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian spyl, German Speil (“chip, splinter, gore, wedge”), Danish spile, Dutch spijl.

verb/spaɪl/
  1. To plug (a hole) with a spile.

  2. To draw off (a liquid) using a spile.

  3. To provide (a barrel, tree etc.) with a spile.

Where this word comes from

From Middle Dutch or Middle Low German spile (“splinter, peg”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *spīlaz (“splinter, peg”), from Proto-Indo-European *spey- (“prickle, pointed stick”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian spyl, German Speil (“chip, splinter, gore, wedge”), Danish spile, Dutch spijl.

noun/spaɪl/
  1. A pile; a post or girder.

Where this word comes from

Alteration of pile, after Etymology 1, above.

verb/spaɪl/
  1. To support by means of spiles.

    transitive
  2. To drive piles into.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Alteration of pile, after Etymology 1, above.

verb/spaɪl/
  1. spoil.

    US · ambitransitive · dialectal
Where this word comes from

Alteration of spoil.

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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.