Tile
/taɪl/noun
A thin, flat piece of baked clay, stone, or other material used for roofing, flooring, or decoration.
Did you know?English tile comes through Old English and Old French from Latin tēgula, a word for a roof covering, from the same root behind Latin tegere, “to cover,” making tile part of a long linguistic lineage of things meant to conceal and protect.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*teḱ-
“to weave, make, or join together; later extended in some branches to the idea of covering”
Latin
Latin
tegere
“to cover, hide, shelter”
Latin
Latin
tēgula
“a roof tile; a covering tile”
Old French
OF
tile
“a roof tile”
Middle English
English
tile
“a roofing tile, later also a floor tile”
Modern English
English
tile
“a thin flat piece of material used for covering surfaces”