Filed
/faɪld/noun
Past tense and past participle of file, meaning to smooth, organize, or submit for official record.
Did you know?The verb file originally meant “to thread documents on a wire or string,” and it goes back to Latin *filum* (“thread”), the same root behind words like *filament* and *profile*.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*gʰel-
“to shine; to be bright”
Latin
Latin
filum
“thread”
Old French
Old French
filer
“to thread; to spin; to string documents on a wire”
Middle English
English
filen
“to thread, string, or smooth with a file”
Modern English
English
filed
“organized, submitted, or smoothed with a file”
Explore more surprising origins