pail

See also: Pail, päil, Päil, and pa'il

English

A pail (def 1)

Etymology

From Middle English payle (“bucket, pail, milking pail”), of uncertain origin.

Likely from Old English pæġel (“wine vessel, container for liquids, pail; a liquid measure”), from Proto-West Germanic *pagil, from Proto-Indo-European *bak- (“peg, club”), equivalent to peg +‎ -le. Compare German Pegel (“level of liquid, level”), Middle Dutch pegel (“half-pint”), Danish pægl (“half-pint”).

Alternatively from Old French paielle (“frying pan, warming pan; a liquid measure”), from Latin patella (“small pan, shallow dish, platter”), diminutive of patina (“broad shallow pan, stewpan”). Perhaps a conflation of both.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /peɪl/, [pʰeɪ̯ɫ], [pʰeəɫ], enPR: pāl

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪl
• Homophone: pale

Noun

pail (plural pails)

1. A vessel of wood, tin, plastic, etc., usually cylindrical and having a handle -- used especially for carrying liquids, for example water or milk; a bucket (sometimes with a cover).

   Synonym: bucket

   The milkmaid carried a pail of milk in each hand.

2. (In technical use) A closed (covered) cylindrical shipping container.

Derived terms

• diaper pail
• dry pail
• garbage pail
• hand in one's dinner pail
• ice-pail
• lunch pail
• lunch pail Democrat
• nappy pail
• pailful
• slop-pail
• wet pail

 

Descendants

• → Kashubian: pil (Canada, United States)

Translations

bucket — see bucket

Anagrams

• ALIP, Lipa, Pali, Piła, lipa, pali, pali-, pial, pila

Dalmatian

Etymology

From Latin pilus.

Noun

pail m

1. (body) hair

See also

• capei