voile

See also: voilé

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French voile (“veil”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɔɪl/

Noun

voile (countable and uncountable, plural voiles)

1. A light, translucent cotton fabric used for making curtains and dresses.
   • 1920, United States Tariff Commission, William Alexander Graham Clark, Henry Chalmers, Blanche C. Howlett, Cotton Yarn: Import and Export Trade in Relation to the Tariff, page 80,

     The domestic voile made from imported gray yarns and woven in the United States is the best combination to be had.

   • 1932, Hiram T. Nones, Philippine Cotton Piece-Goods Market, page 14,

     Cheap narrow voiles.—Plain color voiles practically are off the market. […] Better grades of voiles usually come in the 39-inch width, […] .

   • 2006, Jorie Johnson, Feltmaking and Wool Magic, page 84,

     Pull out the basting thread, gently remove the voile from the three-minute sample, and reshape the sample with a steam iron.

Descendants

• → Irish: voil

Anagrams

• Olive, lovie, olive

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vwal/

• audio

  (file)

Etymology 1

From an Old French voil, veil, from Latin vēlum, from Proto-Indo-European.

Noun

voile m (plural voiles)

1. (countable) veil

Derived terms

• voile intégral

Descendants

• → English: voile
  • → Irish: voil
• → Italian: voile
• → Romanian: voal
• → Russian: вуаль (vualʹ)

Etymology 2

From Old French voile, veile, veille, from Vulgar Latin *vēla, from the plural of Latin vēlum, from Proto-Indo-European.

Noun

voile f (plural voiles)

1. (countable) sail

   Hissons la grande voile, matelots !

   Raise the mainsail, seamen!

2. (uncountable, sports) sailing.

   La voile, il n'y a rien de mieux pour se détendre ! J'en ai fait tout le week-end.

   Sailing, there's nothing better for relaxing! I did it all weekend.

Derived terms

• faire de la voile
• voiler
• voilier

Anagrams

• olive, viole, violé

Further reading

• “voile”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from French voile. Doublet of vela.

Noun

voile m (uncountable)

1. voile

Anagrams

• Elvio, olive, ovile, viole

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Old French

Alternative forms

• veile

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *vēla, from the plural of vēlum.

Alternative forms

• veile, veille

Noun

voile oblique singular, f (oblique plural voiles, nominative singular voile, nominative plural voiles)

1. sail (large piece of fabric attached to the mast of a watercraft)

Descendants

• French: voile
• Norman: vaile