ceiling

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiːlɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (UK):

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• Rhymes: -iːlɪŋ
• Homophone: sealing
• Hyphenation: ceil‧ing

Etymology 1

From Middle English celing (“paneling; (bed) cover or hanging”), from celen (“to cover or panel walls”) (from Old French celer (“to conceal”)) + -ing (gerund-forming suffix). By surface analysis, ceil +‎ -ing.

Noun

Ceiling with lights

ceiling (plural ceilings)

1. The overhead closure of a room.

   The dining room had an ornate ceiling.

2. The upper limit of an object or action.
   • 2008, N. Gregory Mankiw, Principles of Economics, volume 1, page 114:

     Market forces naturally move the economy to the equilibrium, and the price ceiling has no effect on the price or the quantity sold.

3. (aviation) The highest altitude at which an aircraft can safely maintain flight.
4. (meteorology) The measurement of visible distance from ground or sea level to an overcast cloud cover; under a clear sky, the ceiling measurement is identified as "unlimited."

   Even though it was cloudy, there was still enough ceiling for the Blue Angels to perform a great show.

5. (mathematics) The smallest integer greater than or equal to a given number.

   The ceiling of 4.5 is 5; the ceiling of −4.5 is −4.

6. (nautical) The inner planking of a vessel.
7. (finance) The maximum permitted level in a financial transaction.
8. (architecture) The overhead interior surface that covers the upper limits of a room.

Synonyms

• ceil (poetic)
• (mathematics): ceil

Antonyms

• floor

Derived terms

• absolute ceiling
• bamboo ceiling
• brass ceiling
• cathedral ceiling
• ceil
• ceiling bird
• ceilinged
• ceiling effect
• ceiling fan
• ceiling function
• ceilingless
• ceilinglike
• ceilingward
• ceilingwards
• celluloid ceiling
• cloud ceiling
• cotton ceiling
• debt ceiling
• drop ceiling
• dropped ceiling
• flight ceiling
• glass ceiling
• gray ceiling
• hit the ceiling
• lavender ceiling
• pink ceiling
• popcorn ceiling
• price ceiling
• rainbow ceiling
• scrape someone off the ceiling
• silver ceiling
• skill ceiling
• subceiling
• through the ceiling
• tray ceiling

Translations

upper limit of room

• Afrikaans: plafon
• Albanian: tavan (sq) m, lëpozë (sq) f
• Arabic: سَقْف m (saqf)

  Egyptian Arabic: سقف m (saʔf)

  Hijazi Arabic: سَقْف m (sagf)

• Armenian: առաստաղ (hy) (aṙastaġ), (rare) առիք (hy) (aṙikʻ)

  Old Armenian: ձեղուն (jełun)

• Azerbaijani: tavan (az)
• Bashkir: түшәм (tüşəm); (Eastern) һайғаҡ (hayğaq), түпә (tüpə), түбәтаҡта (tübətaqta)
• Basque: sabai (eu)
• Belarusian: столь m (stolʹ)
• Bengali: ছাদ (bn) (chad)
• Brunei Malay: siling
• Bulgarian: тава́н (bg) m (taván)
• Burmese: မျက်နှာကြက် (my) (myakhna-krak)
• Catalan: sostre (ca) m
• Cherokee: ᎠᏯᎦᏢ (ayagatlv)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 天花板 (tin¹ faa¹ baan²)

  Hokkien: 天篷 (zh-min-nan) (thian-pông)

  Mandarin: 天花板 (zh) (tiānhuābǎn), 天棚 (zh) (tiānpéng)

• Chuvash: путалӑх (put̬alăh)
• Cornish: nen
• Crimean Tatar: tavan
• Czech: strop (cs) m
• Danish: loft (da) n
• Dutch: plafond (nl) n, zoldering (nl) f
• Esperanto: plafono
• Estonian: lagi (et)
• Faroese: loft n
• Finnish: katto (fi), sisäkatto (fi), laipio (fi)
• French: plafond (fr) m
• Galician: teito (gl) m, ceo (gl) m
• Georgian: ჭერი (ka) (č̣eri)
• German: Decke (de) f
• Greek: οροφή (el) f (orofí), ταβάνι (el) n (taváni)

  Ancient: ὀροφή f (orophḗ)

• Gujarati: છત (gu) (chat)
• Haitian Creole: plafon
• Hausa: silin
• Hebrew: תִּקְרָה (he) f (tik'ráh)
• Hindi: छत (hi) f (chat)
• Hungarian: mennyezet (hu), plafon (hu)
• Icelandic: loft (is) n
• Ido: plafono (io)
• Indonesian: langit-langit (id), plafon (id)
• Ingrian: laki
• Irish: síleáil f
• Italian: soffitto (it) m
• Japanese: 天井 (ja) (てんじょう, tenjō)
• Kazakh: төбе (töbe), шек (şek)
• Khiamniungan Naga: tīuthùap
• Khmer: ពិតាន (km) (pitaan)
• Korean: 천장(天障) (ko) (cheonjang)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: kaşxank (ku), seqf (ku), arîk (ku)

• Kyrgyz: потолок (potolok), шып (ky) (şıp)
• Ladino: taván, techo
• Lao: ເພດານ (lo) (phē dān), ພິດານ (phi dān), ປະຕຸລາ (pa tu lā)
• Latgalian: grīsti, viersejuo greida
• Latin: lacunar n
• Latvian: griesti
• Lithuanian: lubos f pl
• Macedonian: таван (mk) m (tavan)
• Malay: siling (ms)
• Malayalam: please add this translation if you can
• Maltese: saqaf m
• Marathi: छत (chat)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: тааз (mn) (taaz), адар (mn) (adar)

• Northern Sami: rohpi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: himling m or f, tak (no) n, loft (no) n

• Occitan: plafon (oc) m
• Odia: ଛାତ (or) (chāta)
• Pashto: سقف (saqf)
• Persian:

  Dari: سَقْف (saqf)

  Iranian Persian: سَقْف (sağf)

• Phoenician: 𐤌𐤎𐤐𐤍𐤕 f (mspnt)
• Plautdietsch: Bän m
• Polish: sufit (pl) m, strop (pl) m
• Portuguese: teto (pt) m
• Romanian: plafon (ro) n, tavan (ro) n
• Russian: потоло́к (ru) m (potolók)
• Scottish Gaelic: mullach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пла̀фо̄н m, стро̏п m

  Roman: plàfōn (sh) m, strȍp (sh) m

• Slovak: strop m
• Slovene: strop (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wjerch m

• Spanish: techo (es) m, cielorraso m, cielo raso m, plafón (es) m
• Swahili: dari (sw)
• Swedish: tak (sv), innertak (sv) n
• Tagalog: kisame
• Tajik: шифт (šift), сақф (saqf)
• Tatar: түшәм (tt) (tüşäm)
• Telugu: లోకప్పు (te) (lōkappu)
• Thai: เพดาน (th) (pee-daan)
• Turkish: tavan (tr)
• Turkmen: potolok
• Ukrainian: сте́ля f (stélja)
• Urdu: چَھت f (chat), سَقْف f (saqf)
• Uyghur: تورۇس (torus), شىپ (ship)
• Uzbek: shift (uz), potolok
• Vietnamese: trần (vi), trần nhà
• Volapük: nufed (vo)
• Walloon: plafon (wa) m
• Welsh: nenfwd m, nenfydau pl
• Yiddish: סופֿיט (yi) m (sufit), סטעליע f (stelye)

upper limit of an object or action

• Bulgarian: го́рна гра́ница f (górna gránica)
• Finnish: katto (fi)
• French: plafond (fr) m
• Greek: πλαφόν (el) n (plafón)
• Hungarian: plafon (hu)
• Indonesian: plafon (id), pagu (id)
• Polish: pułap (pl) m
• Swedish: tak (sv) n

altitude

• Bulgarian: тава́н (bg) m (taván)
• Finnish: lakikorkeus (fi)
• Greek: υψόμετρο (el) n (ypsómetro)
• Khmer: ពិតាន (km) (pitaan)
• Polish: pułap (pl) m
• Portuguese: teto (pt) m
• Russian: потоло́к (ru) m (potolók)
• Spanish: techo (es) m

smallest integer

• Czech: horní celá část f
• Finnish: ylös pyöristetty luku
• French: partie entière par excès (fr) f
• Japanese: 天井関数 (tenjō kansū)
• Norwegian: tak (no) n
• Polish: sufit (pl) m
• Russian: потоло́к (ru) m (potolók)
• Swedish: tak (sv) n

inner planking of a vessel

• Finnish: sisälankutus, karneeraus

Etymology 2

Verb

ceiling

1. present participle and gerund of ceil

Anagrams

• cieling