shale

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) A shell or husk; a cod or pod.
2. (countable, uncountable) A fine-grained sedimentary rock of a thin, laminated, and often friable, structure.

Verb

To take off the shell or coat of.

Synonyms

slate

schist

moot

pin

shiver

spool

torbanite

schistous clay

silt rock

argillaceous rock

clay stone

clay slate

cleaving stone

shale rock

mesh gauge

claystone

mesh bar

cowl

Translations

schiste

Schiefer

esquisto

Schieferton

scisto

xisto

schisto

şistli

pizarra

esquist

Schiefergestein

décoquiller

écoquiller

sasso

🪨

schiste argileux

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ʃeɪl/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: schale

Inherited from Old English: sċealu

Cognate with Western Frisian: skaal

Cognate with Dutch: schaal

Cognate with German: Schale

Cognate with Lithuanian: skalà

Cognate with Church Slavic: скала

Cognate with Polish: skała

Cognate with Albanian: halë

Cognate with Sanskrit: कल

Cognate with Lithuanian: skélti

Cognate with Ancient Greek: σκάλλω

In summary

From Middle English schale (“shell, husk; scale”), from Old English sċealu (“shell, husk, pod”), from Proto-West Germanic *skalu, from Proto-Germanic *skalō, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to split, cut”), from *(s)kel- (“to split, cleave”).
See also West Frisian skaal (“dish”), Dutch schaal (“shell”), schalie (“shale”), German Schale (“husk, pod”); also Lithuanian skalà (“splinter”), Old Church Slavonic скала (skala, “rock, stone”), Polish skała (“rock”), Albanian halë (“fish bone, splinter”), Sanskrit कल (kalá, “small part”); also Hittite [script needed] (iškalla, “to tear apart, slit open”), Lithuanian skélti (“to split”), Ancient Greek σκάλλω (skállō, “to hoe, harrow”). Doublet of scale. See also shell.