sill

See also: Sill

English

1: Sill
2: Lintel

Pronunciation

• enPR: sĭl, IPA^(key): /sɪl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• 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 zulle (“sill”), Low German Sull, Sülle (“threshold, ramp, sill”), German Süll, Sülle (“threshold, 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”), Ancient Greek ὕλη (húlē).

Noun

sill (plural sills)

2. (architecture, also "window sill") A breast wall; window breast; horizontal brink which forms the base of a window.

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

4. (construction) A threshold; horizontal structural member of a building near ground level on a foundation or pilings, or lying on the ground, and bearing the upright portion of a frame; a sill plate.

   Coordinate terms: ground plate, groundsill, sole, sole plate, mudsill

5. (geology) A stratum of rock, especially an intrusive layer of igneous rock lying parallel to surrounding strata.
   • 1980, Geological Survey Professional Paper, Volume 1119, U.S. Government Printing Office:

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

   • 2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: The First 100 Million Years, Penguin, published 2019, page 55::

     The molten rock in the sills may have ignited vast reserves of shallowly buried natural gas, much like a match applied to a gas barbecue.

6. A threshold or brink across the bottom of a canal lock for the gates to shut against.
7. (anatomy) A raised area at the base of the nasal aperture in the skull.

   the nasal sill

8. (military, historical) The inner edge of the bottom of an embrasure.

Usage notes

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

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:sill.

Derived terms

• cross-sill
• doorsill
• groundsill
• mudsill
• silled
• windowsill

Related terms

• lintel
• plate sense #13 (construction)

Translations

base of a window

• Bashkir: тәҙрә төбө (təźrə töbö)
• Bulgarian: перва́з (bg) m (perváz)
• Catalan: ampit (ca) m
• Czech: parapet m
• Dutch: vensterbank (nl) f
• Finnish: ikkunalauta (fi)
• French: rebord (fr) m
• Galician: piar (gl) m, peitoril (gl) m, soleira (gl) f
• German: Fensterbank (de) f, Sims (de) m or n, Fensterbrett (de) n, Brüstung (de) f, Fensterbrüstung (de) f
• Greek: περβάζι (el) n (pervázi)
• Hungarian: párkány (hu)
• Irish: tairseach f
• Italian: davanzale (it) m
• Latvian: palodze
• Lithuanian: palangė
• Macedonian: пе́рваз m (pérvaz), симс m (sims)
• Maori: pehipehi
• Marathi: तळसरी (taḷasrī)
• Norwegian: vinduskarm (no) m
• Polish: parapet (pl) m inan, podokiennik m inan
• Portuguese: parapeito (pt) m
• Romanian: pervaz (ro) n
• Russian: подоко́нник (ru) m (podokónnik)
• Scottish Gaelic: sòla 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 (ca)
• Finnish: palkki (fi)
• French: linteau (fr) m
• Galician: lintel (gl) m
• German: Schwelle (de) f, Fachwerkschwelle f, Fussschwelle f, Fußschwelle f
• Greek: κατώφλι (el) n (katófli)
• Italian: soletta f
• Maori: paepae
• Polish: podwalina (pl) f
• Portuguese: lintel m
• Russian: ле́жень (ru) m (léženʹ)
• Spanish: dintel (es) m
• Swahili: bado (sw)

layer of igneous rock

• Finnish: kerrosjuoni
• German: Lagergang m, Sill m
• Greek: στρωματοειδής φλέβα f (stromatoeidís fléva)
• Hungarian: teleptelér (hu)
• Irish: urlár (ga) m
• Latin: sillus m
• Polish: sill (pl) m inan
• Russian: силл (ru) m (sill)
• Spanish: lámina (es) f

threshold or brink across the bottom of the upper canal lock

• Bulgarian: праг (bg) m (prag)
• Finnish: pohjakynnys, kynnys (fi)
• German: Drempel (de) m, Bodenstufe f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} davanzale (it) m
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} pencere saçaĝı

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.

Etymology 4

Short for silly.

Adjective

sill (comparative more sill, superlative most sill)

1. (rare, slang) Silly.

References

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

Anagrams

• ills

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French sill, from English sill.

Noun

sill n (uncountable)

1. (geology) sill

Declension

declension of sill (singular only)

	singular
n gender	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) sill	sillul
genitive/dative	(unui) sill	sillului
vocative	sillule

Swedish

en sill

Etymology

From Old Norse síld, from Proto-Germanic *sīlą.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /sɪl/, [sɪlː]

Noun

sill c

1. herring

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.

Declension

Declension of sill
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	sill	sillen	sillar	sillarna
Genitive	sills	sillens	sillars	sillarnas

Derived terms

• fetsill
• glasmästarsill
• islandssill
• kryddsill
• lipsill
• löksill
• matjessill
• saltsill
• senapssill
• sillinläggning
• sillstrypare
• skarpsill

 

See also

• strömming

References

• sill in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• sill in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• sill in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Welsh

Etymology

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

sill f (plural sillau or silloedd, not mutable)

1. Alternative form of sillaf (“syllable”)

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “sill”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies