sill

C2 Topic:House & Home

US /sɪl/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like seal /ɪ/ vs /iː/ Sounds like cere /l/ vs /r/

Freq #29636

Meanings

1

noun
A breast wall; window breast; horizontal brink which forms the base of a window.

She looked out the window resting her elbows on the window sill.
2

noun
A stratum of rock, especially an intrusive layer of igneous rock lying parallel to surrounding strata.

Minor palingenetic magmas probably were generated at this time and intruded the mantling rocks in the form of small sills and apophyses […].
3

noun
A raised area at the base of the nasal aperture in the skull.

The nasal sill.
4

noun
structural member consisting of a continuous horizontal timber forming the lowest member of a framework or supporting structure

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms sills

Derived forms cross-silldoorsillgroundselgroundsilllugsillmudsillportsillsillcocksilledsillockskysillundersill

Related forms lintel

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

window sill
the horizontal ledge at the bottom of a window opening

Noun + noun

Etymology

From Middle English sille, selle, sülle, from Old English syll, syl (“sill, threshold, foundation, base, basis”), from Proto-Germanic *sulī (“bar, sill”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *swel- (“beam, board, frame, threshold”). Cognate with Scots sil, sill (“balk, beam, floor, sill”), Dutch zulle (“sill”), Low German Sull, Sülle (“threshold, ramp, sill”), German Süll, Sülle (“threshold, sill”), Danish syld (“base of a framework building”), Swedish syll (“joist, cross-tie”), Norwegian syll, Icelandic syll, sylla (“sill”). Related also to German Schwelle ( > Danish svelle), Old Norse svill, Lat...

Topics

House & Home

External links

# sill

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /sɪl/
**Frequency rank:** 29636

## Meanings
1. A breast wall; window breast; horizontal brink which forms the base of a window.
2. A stratum of rock, especially an intrusive layer of igneous rock lying parallel to surrounding strata.
3. A raised area at the base of the nasal aperture in the skull.
4. structural member consisting of a continuous horizontal timber forming the lowest member of a framework or supporting structure

## Examples
- She looked out the window resting her elbows on the window sill.
- Minor palingenetic magmas probably were generated at this time and intruded the mantling rocks in the form of small sills and apophyses […].
- The nasal sill.

## Derived Forms
- cross-sill
- doorsill
- groundsel
- groundsill
- lugsill
- mudsill
- portsill
- sillcock
- silled
- sillock
- skysill
- undersill

## Related Forms
- lintel

## Etymology
From Middle English sille, selle, sülle, from Old English syll, syl (“sill, threshold, foundation, base, basis”), from Proto-Germanic *sulī (“bar, sill”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *swel- (“beam, board, frame, threshold”). Cognate with Scots sil, sill (“balk, beam, floor, sill”), Dutch zulle (“sill”), Low German Sull, Sülle (“threshold, ramp, sill”), German Süll, Sülle (“threshold, sill”), Danish syld (“base of a framework building”), Swedish syll (“joist, cross-tie”), Norwegian syll, Icelandic syll, sylla (“sill”). Related also to German Schwelle ( > Danish svelle), Old Norse svill, Lat...

## Topics
- House & Home

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