sill

See also: Sill

English

1: Sill
2: Lintel

Pronunciation

• enPR: sĭl, IPA^(key): /sɪl/,
• 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”), 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)

1. (architecture) (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. (construction) 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 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.
5. (anatomy) A raised area at the base of the nasal aperture in the skull.

   the nasal sill

6. (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

• doorsill
• mudsill
• groundsill
• 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
• Dutch: vensterbank (nl) f
• Finnish: ikkunalauta (fi)
• French: rebord (fr) m
• Galician: piar (gl) m, peitoril (gl) m
• German: Fensterbank (de) f, Sims (de) m or n
• Greek: περβάζι (el) n (pervázi)
• Hungarian: párkány (hu)
• Irish: tairseach f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: davanzale (it) m
• Latvian: palodze
• Lithuanian: palangė
• Macedonian: симс m (sims)
• Maori: pehipehi
• Norwegian: vinduskarm (no) m
• Polish: parapet (pl) m inan, podokiennik m inan
• Portuguese: parapeito (pt) m
• 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
• Greek: κατώφλι (el) n (katófli)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: soletta f
• Maori: paepae
• Polish: podwalina f
• Portuguese: lintel m
• Russian: ле́жень (ru) m (léženʹ)
• Swahili: bado (sw)

layer of igneous rock

• German: Lagergang m, Sill m
• Greek: στρωματοειδής φλέβα f (stromatoeidís fléva)
• Irish: urlár (ga) m
• Latin: sillus m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: sill (pl) m inan
• Russian: силл (ru) m (sill)
• Spanish: lámina (es) 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• (deprecated template usage) Turkish: 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.

Anagrams

• ills

---

Swedish

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /sɪl/

Noun

sill c

1. a 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

See also

• strömming

References

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