Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “pile” come from?

Pile comes from Middle French pile, from Latin pila, from Latin pilus, from Latin pilum, from Proto-Indo-European peys-.

pile (English): A mass of things heaped together; a heap; A group...

Definitions

  1. A mass of things heaped together; a heap; A group...

Ancestry of “pile”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchpileheap, stack; pillar; battery
2Old Frenchpile—
3Latinpilamortar; pillar; pier
4Latinpīlus—
5Latinpīlum—
6Proto-Italicpistlom—
7Proto-Indo-Europeanpis-tlo-—
8Proto-Indo-Europeanpeys-to grind, to crush

Words derived from “pile”

  • piles
  • piling
  • stockpile
  • woodpile
  • thermopile
  • pily
  • sandpile
  • piler
  • piledriver
  • pilewort
  • wastepile
  • rockpile
  • monopile
  • unpile
  • shagpile
  • dogpile
  • junkpile
  • repile
  • shitpile
  • stockpiler
  • pileless
  • slushpile
  • piledrive
  • snowpile
Every word from Proto-Indo-European peys- →