overwordExplorer
LATIN · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

palea.

chaff, husk;

5 characters2 syllables approx.Latina language

Meaning & usage

noun[ˈpa.ɫe.a]Classical-Latin[ˈpaː.le.a]

  1. chaff

    declension-1 · feminine · plural-normally

  2. The wattles or gills of a cock.

    declension-1 · feminine

  3. dross

    declension-1 · feminine

  4. husk

    declension-1 · feminine

  5. straw

    declension-1 · feminine
Where this word comes from

From Proto-Italic *palejā (“chaff”), from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₁- (“chaff”); the original meaning of the Proto-Indo-European appears to be "to swing", with the "chaff" meaning being a semantic extension from "to swing" > "to thresh corn" > "the chaff separated from the fruit by threshing action". Cognate with Sanskrit पलाव (palā́va, “chaff”), Old Church Slavonic плева (pleva), Russian полова (polova), Lithuanian pelūs, Ancient Greek πάλλω (pállō, “to swing, sway”). See also pulvis (“powder”).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

palea has 5 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

palea studiopalea workshello, palea

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

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.