tile
n. countablen. a flat, thin piece of hard material like clay or stone used to cover floors and walls. You often see them in bathrooms or kitchens because they are easy to clean.
n. a thin, flat slab of fired clay, stone, or concrete used for covering surfaces. Often used in the plural to refer to the entire surface covering.
We chose a blue tile for the bathroom floor.
The contractor suggested using a ceramic tile because it resists moisture better than wood in a kitchen environment.
The intricate mosaic was composed of thousands of hand-painted tiles, each contributing to a larger geometric pattern that spanned the entire courtyard floor.
From Middle English tile, tyle, tigel, tiȝel, teȝele, from Old English tieġle, tiġle, tiġele (“tile, brick”), from Proto-West Germanic tigulā (“tile, brick”), from Proto-Germanic tigulǭ (“tile, brick”), from Latin tēgula. Doublet of tegula. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tichel (“tile”), West Frisian teil, tegel, tichel (“tile”), Dutch tichel, tegel (“tile”), German Ziegel (“brick, roof tile”), Danish tegl (“brick”), Faroese tigul, Icelandic tigl (“tile, brick”), Norwegian tegl (“brick, roof tile”), Swedish tegel (“brick, tile”), Asturian and Leonese teya (“roof tile”), Aragonese and Galician tella (“roof tile”), Catalan teula (“roof tile”), French tuile (“roof tile”), Italian tegola (“roof tile”), Mirandese teilha (“roof tile”), Portuguese telha (“roof tile”), Spanish teja (“roof tile”), Czech cihla (“brick”), Polish cegła (“brick”).
See tiler (“doorkeeper at a Masonic lodge”).
Commonly used in the plural ('tiles') when referring to a floor or wall surface.