Definitions
01building material
A2 · Elementary Countable noun
n. a flat, hard piece of clay, stone, or plastic used to cover a floor, wall, or roof.
n. a thin, usually rectangular or square slab of hard-wearing material used for covering surfaces.
“We chose a dark blue tile for the bathroom floor because it is easy to clean.”
“The restoration project required hand-painted ceramic tiles to match the original nineteenth-century patterns in the hallway.”
02game piece
B1 · Intermediate Countable noun
n. a small, flat piece used in games like Scrabble, dominoes, or mahjong.
n. a small, flat, usually cuboid piece used as a marker or playing component in various board games.
Español:ficha
“He picked up a letter tile and placed it on the board to win the game.”
“In mahjong, players must carefully track which tiles have been discarded to predict their opponents' strategies.”
03computing
B2 · Upper Intermediate Countable noun Computing
n. a square or rectangular icon on a computer screen that shows information.
n. a rectangular graphical user interface element, often used to represent an application or a live data feed.
“You can pin a tile to your start menu to see the weather forecast quickly.”
“The operating system's interface features live tiles that update in real-time with notifications from social media and email accounts.”
04to arrange windows
B2 · Upper Intermediate Computing
v. to arrange windows on a computer screen so they sit next to each other without overlapping.
v. to arrange open windows or images in a grid pattern so that they are all visible simultaneously without overlap.
“If you tile your open windows, you can see both documents at the same time.”
“The software allows users to tile multiple video feeds across the monitor for more efficient security surveillance.”
Etymology
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”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
NOUN
Domain
- Exam level
- CambridgeCambridgeCambridge English QualificationsThe exam suite from Cambridge University Press & Assessment, from A1 Movers up to C2 Proficiency. The benchmark names double as CEFR labels.A2 KeyIELTSIELTSInternational English Language Testing SystemThe 0–9 band test co-owned by the British Council, IDP, and Cambridge. Used for university entry, work, and migration.3.0–4.0TOEFL iBTTOEFL iBTTest of English as a Foreign Language, Internet-Based TestETS's academic English test, the standard route for US university admissions. Scored 0–120, with a 1–6 scale since 2026.1–6 scale: 2.0–2.524–43TOEICTOEICTest of English for International CommunicationETS's workplace English test, big in Japan and Korea. Listening & Reading scores 10–990 and tops out at C1.225–549
- Frequency
- Frequent
- Level
- A2 · Elementary
- Updated
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QR code
englishreference.com/q/tile
「カタカナ語」 data: JMdict (EDRDG), CC BY-SA 4.0
‘외래어’ data: 한국어기초사전 (국립국어원), CC BY-SA 2.0 KR
Traducciones: Kaikki.org (Wiktionary), CC BY-SA 4.0