vial

See also: Vial and viäl

English

Glass vials of Depo-Estradiol (estradiol cypionate)

Plastic vials

Etymology

From Middle English vial, viole, a variant of fiole, phiole, phial (“small bowl or cup for liquids, etc.; flask”) [and other forms]: see further at phial. Doublet of phiale.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈvaɪəl/, /ˈvaɪl/
• (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /ˈvɑj(ə)l/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Homophone: vile (one GA pronunciation)
• Rhymes: -aɪəl, (one GA pronunciation) -aɪl
• Hyphenation: vi‧al

Noun

vial (plural vials)

1. A glass or plastic vessel or bottle, especially a small tube-shaped bottle used to store medicine, perfume or other chemicals.

   Synonym: phial

   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     Take thou this vial, being then in bed, / And this distilled liquor drink thou off.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 16:3:

     And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.

Hyponyms

• ampoule
• vacutainer

Coordinate terms

• test tube

Derived terms

• Bologna vial
• cryovial
• microvial
• scintillation vial
• vialful

Translations

small tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical

• Arabic: أُنبوب m
• Aramaic:

  Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܩܵܪܘܼܪܵܐ m (qārūrā)

• Armenian: սրվակ (hy) (srvak)
• Belarusian: флако́н m (flakón), пля́шачка f (pljášačka), бутэ́лечка f (butélječka), ду́тка f (dútka)
• Bulgarian: шише́нце n (šišénce), флако́н m (flakón)
• Catalan: fiola (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 玻璃瓶 (bōlípíng, literally “glass bottle”), 小瓶 (xǎopíng, literally “small bottle”), 藥瓶 / 药瓶 (zh) (yàopíng, literally “medicine bottle”) (usually for medicine)

• Czech: fióla f, lahvička (cs) f
• Danish: hætteglas n
• Dutch: fiool (nl) m or f, medcijnfles f
• Esperanto: fiolo, boteleto
• Estonian: viaal
• Finnish: lääkepullo, näytepullo; pikkupullo
• French: fiole (fr) f
• Georgian: შუშა (šuša), ბოთლი (ka) (botli), ფლაკონი (plaḳoni)
• German: Phiole f
• Greek: αμπούλα (el) f (ampoúla)
• Hindi: शीशी (hi) f (śīśī)
• Hungarian: fiola (hu), üvegcse (hu)
• Ido: fialo (io)
• Irish: fial m
• Italian: fiala (it) f
• Japanese: 小瓶 (ja) (こびん, kobin), 薬瓶 (ja) (くすりびん, kusuribin) (usually for medicine), バイアル (baiaru)
• Korean: 유리병(琉璃甁) (yuribyeong), 약병(藥甁) (yakbyeong) (usually for medicine), 바이알 (baial)
• Latin: fiola f
• Macedonian: ши́шенце n (šíšence)
• Marathi: शिशी (śiśī), शीशी (śīśī)
• Middle English: fiole
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: وِیال (viyâl)

• Polish: fiolka (pl) f
• Portuguese: frasco (pt) m
• Romanian: fiolă (ro) f
• Russian: буты́лочка (ru) f (butýločka), пузырёк (ru) m (puzyrjók), флако́н (ru) m (flakón), скля́нка (ru) f (skljánka)
• Slovak: fľaštička f, liekovka f
• Slovene: fiola f
• Spanish: frasco (es) m, vial m
• Swahili: chupa (sw)
• Tagalog: redoma
• Turkish: viyal
• Ukrainian: флако́н m (flakón), пля́шечка f (pljášečka)
• Urdu: شِیشی f (śīśī)
• Vietnamese: lọ (vi), lọ nhỏ
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: ffiol f

Verb

vial (third-person singular simple present vials, present participle (US) vialing or (UK) vialling, simple past and past participle (US) vialed or (UK) vialled)

1. (transitive) To keep or put (something, especially a liquid) in, or as if in, a vial (noun sense).

   Synonym: phial

Further reading

• vial on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “vial”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• LAIV, VALI, Vail, Vali, Vila, vail, vali, vila

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Central, Northwestern) [biˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [viˈal]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Latin viālis.

Noun

vial m (plural vials)

1. lane, avenue

Etymology 2

From English vial.

Noun

vial m (plural vials)

1. (medicine) vial

Further reading

• “vial”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “vial”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “vial” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “vial”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Piedmontese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvjal/

Noun

vial m (plural viaj)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Spanish

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁-

Proto-Italic *wiā

Latin via

Spanish vía

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālis

Spanish -al

Spanish vial

From vía + -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbjal/ [ˈbjal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: vial

Adjective

vial m or f (masculine and feminine plural viales)

1. (relational) road, highway

Noun

vial m (plural viales)

1. avenue

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English vial.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbajal/ [ˈba.jal]
• Rhymes: -ajal

Noun

vial m (plural viales)

1. vial

Further reading

• “vial”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025