sill

English

Sill labeled with 1 (note: lintel = 2)

Pronunciation

• enPR: sĭl, IPA: /sɪl/, X-SAMPA: /sIl/,
• Rhymes: -ɪl

Etymology 1

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 zul (“sill”), Low German Sull, Sülle (“threshold, ramp, 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, Latin silva (“wood, forest”).

Noun

sill (plural sills)

1. (also window sill) A horizontal slat which forms the base of a window.

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

2. A horizontal, structural member of a building near ground level on a foundation or pilings or lying on the ground in earth-fast construction and bearing the upright portion of a frame. Also spelled cill. Also called a ground plate, groundsill, sole, sole-plate, mudsill. An interrupted sill fits between posts instead of being below and supporting the posts in timber framing.
3. (geology) A horizontal layer of igneous rock between older rock beds.
   • 1980, U.S. Government Printing Office, Geological Survey Professional Paper, Volume 1119

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

4. A piece of timber across the bottom of a canal lock for the gates to shut against.

Usage notes

Usually spelled cill when used in the context of canal or river engineering.

Derived terms

• mudsill
• groundsill
• window sill

Quotations

• For usage examples of this term, see the citations page.

Translations

base of a window

• Bulgarian: перваз (bg) (perváz) m
• Catalan: ampit m
• Dutch: vensterbank (nl) f
• Finnish: ikkunalauta
• French: rebord (fr) m
• Hungarian: párkány (hu)
• Irish: tairseach (ga) f
• Italian: davanzale (it) m

• Latvian: palodze (lv)
• Norwegian: vinduskarm (no) m
• Polish: parapet (pl) m
• Portuguese: parapeito (pt) m
• Russian: подоконник (ru) (podokónnik) m
• Scottish Gaelic: sòla (gd) f
• Spanish: alféizar (es) m, antepecho (es) m, parapeto (es) m
• Swahili: bado (sw)

horizontal member bearing the upright portion of a frame

• Catalan: llindar
• Finnish: palkki (fi)
• French: linteau (fr) m

• Portuguese: lintel (pt) m
• Swahili: bado (sw)

layer of igneous rock

• Latin: sillus (la) m
• Polish: sill (pl) m

• Russian: силл (ru) (sill) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Spanish: antepecho de ventana m (1), umbral m
• Turkish: pencere saçaĝı [-nı]
• Italian: davanzale m

Related terms

• lintel
• plate sense #13 (construction)

Etymology 2

Compare sile.

Noun

sill (plural sills)

1. (UK) A young herring.

Etymology 3

Compare thill.

Noun

sill (plural sills)

1. The shaft or thill of a carriage.

Anagrams

• ills

---

Swedish

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• audio

  (file)

• IPA: /sɪl/

Noun

sill c

1. a herring

Declension

Declension of sill

	singular		plural
Common	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	sill	sillen	sillar	sillarna
genitive	sills	sillens	sillars	sillarnas

Usage notes

• Herring from the Atlantic on Sweden's west coast is called sill. The subspecies fished from the Baltic Sea on Sweden's east coast is called strömming.

See also

• strömming

References

• Harris, Cyril M.. Illustrated dictionary of historic architecture. New York: Dover Publications, 1983, 1977. Groundsill ISBN 048624444X