sill

Meaning

Noun

1. A breast wall; window breast; horizontal brink which forms the base of a window.
2. A threshold; horizontal structural member of a building near ground level on a foundation or pilings, or lying on the ground, and bearing the upright portion of a frame; a sill plate.
3. A stratum of rock, especially an intrusive layer of igneous rock lying parallel to surrounding strata.
4. A threshold or brink across the bottom of a canal lock for the gates to shut against.
5. A raised area at the base of the nasal aperture in the skull.
6. (historical) The inner edge of the bottom of an embrasure.

Adj

Silly.

Synonyms

threshold

doorstep

windowsill

ledge

doorway

parapet

bottom girder

window-sill

breast wall

bedstone

bottom of the frame

ground sill

ledge rock

rock bed

rock floor

beam

rock sheet

collar

floor

groundsel

water-table

window sill

Translations

seuil

umbral

llindar

drempel

dorpel

soglia

davanzale

limen

περβάζι

limiar

Schwelle

ampit

rebord

κατώφλι

Pronounced as (IPA)

/sɪl/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: sille

Inherited from Old English: syll

Cognate with Scots: sil

Cognate with Dutch: zulle

Cognate with Low German: Sull

Cognate with German: Süll

Cognate with Danish: syld

Cognate with Swedish: syll

Cognate with Norwegian: syll

Cognate with Icelandic: syll

Cognate with Latin: silva

Cognate with Ancient Greek: ὕλη

In summary

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”), German Süll, Sülle (“threshold, 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).