peel

B2 Topic:Cooking & Baking

US /piːl/ See IPA manual

Homophones

peal /piːl/

Minimal pairs

Sounds like pill /ɪ/ vs /iː/

Freq #7191

Meanings

1

verb
To remove the skin or outer covering from a fruit or vegetable.

I sat by my sister's bed, peeling oranges for her.
2

verb
To come off in thin pieces, or to lose an outer layer in flakes.

I had been out in the sun too long, and my nose was starting to peel.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Multiword verbs with peel

peel off Phrasal verb B2

to remove an outer covering in a thin piece or layer

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to remove the skin or outer... skin strip

2 verb · to come off in thin pieces,... flake flake off peel off

Word family

Forms peeledpeelingpeels

Derived forms overpeelpeel-and-sealpeel-housepeel-towerpeelabilitypeelablepeelerpeelhousepeeliepeellesspeeloutpeely

Appears in

Phrases (2)

See all

banana peel
the outer skin removed from a banana

Noun + noun
peel off
to remove an outer covering in a thin piece or layer

Verb + adverb

Proverbs (1)

See all

There's more than one way to peel an orange

Etymology

From Middle English pelen, from Old English pilian and Old French peler, pellier; both from Latin pilō, pilāre (“to remove hair from, depilate”), from pilus (“hair”). Doublet of pill.

pelen Middle English pilian Old English peler Old French pilo Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Cooking & Baking Actions & Processes

External links

# peel

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /piːl/
**Frequency rank:** 7191

## Meanings
1. To remove the skin or outer covering from a fruit or vegetable.
2. To come off in thin pieces, or to lose an outer layer in flakes.

## Examples
- I sat by my sister's bed, peeling oranges for her.
- I had been out in the sun too long, and my nose was starting to peel.

## Derived Forms
- overpeel
- peel-and-seal
- peel-house
- peel-tower
- peelability
- peelable
- peeler
- peelhouse
- peelie
- peelless
- peelout
- peely

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: pelen
- Root: pilian
- Root: peler
- Root: pilo

## Etymology
From Middle English pelen, from Old English pilian and Old French peler, pellier; both from Latin pilō, pilāre (“to remove hair from, depilate”), from pilus (“hair”). Doublet of pill.

## AI Etymology
Peel comes from Middle English pelen, from Old English pilian and Old French peler, pellier; both from Latin pilō, pilāre (“to remove hair from, depilate”), from pilus (“hair”). Doublet of pill. Modern senses include to remove the skin or outer covering from a fruit or vegetable and to come off in thin pieces, or to lose an outer layer in flakes. The wider word family includes derivatives such as overpeel, peel-and-seal, peel-house, peel-tower, peelability, and peelable.

## Topics
- Cooking & Baking
- Actions & Processes

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