shingle
n.n. a thin, flat piece of wood or stone used to cover the roof of a house. You often see them arranged in a pattern to protect the building from rain.
n. a thin, flat piece of wood, stone, or other material used for roofing. Often used in the plural to refer to the entire roof covering.
The roof is covered in dark green shingles.
After the storm, the contractor replaced all the damaged shingles to prevent water from leaking into the attic.
The historic building's roof was restored using traditional cedar shingles, which provide superior insulation and a distinctive aesthetic that modern materials cannot replicate.
From Middle English shyngel, alteration of Old English sċindel, from Proto-West Germanic skindulā, borrowed from Late Latin scindula, from Latin scandula, from Proto-Indo-European sked- (“to split, scatter”), from *sek- (“to cut”). Doublet of shindle.
From dialectal French chingler (“to strap, whip”), from Latin cingula (“girt, belt”), from cingere (“to girt”).
From Middle English shingel, chingel, singel (“gravel, pebbles”), cognate with Norwegian Bokmål singel (“pebble(s)”), Norwegian Nynorsk singel (“pebble(s)”), and North Frisian singel (“gravel”), imitative of the sound of water running over such pebbles.