tile

American  

[tahyl] / taɪl /

noun

tiles plural

1. a thin slab or bent piece of baked clay, sometimes painted or glazed, used for various purposes, as to form one of the units of a roof covering, floor, or revetment.

2. any of various similar slabs or pieces, as of linoleum, stone, rubber, or metal.

3. tiles collectively.

4. a flat, rectangular playing piece used in certain games, as Scrabble and mah-jongg.

5. a pottery tube or pipe used for draining land.

6. Also called hollow tile.  any of various hollow or cellular units of burnt clay or other materials, as gypsum or cinder concrete, for building walls, partitions, floors, and roofs, or for fireproofing steelwork or the like.

7. Informal. a stiff hat or high silk hat.

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verb (used with object)

tiles, present (3rd person singular) tiled, past participle, past tiling present participle

1. to cover with or as with tiles.

tile British  

/ taɪl /

noun

1. a flat thin slab of fired clay, rubber, linoleum, etc, usually square or rectangular and sometimes ornamental, used with others to cover a roof, floor, wall, etc

2. a short pipe made of earthenware, concrete, or plastic, used with others to form a drain

3. tiles collectively

4. a rectangular block used as a playing piece in mah jong and other games

5. old-fashioned a hat

6. informal on a spree, esp of drinking or debauchery

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verb

1. (tr) to cover with tiles

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• tiler
  noun
• tilelike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• tiles
  plural

Participles

• tiling
  present
• tiled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• tile
  simple
• tiles
  simple
• have tiled
  perfect
• has tiled
  perfect
• am tiling
  progressive
• are tiling
  progressive
• is tiling
  progressive
• have been tiling
  perfect progressive
• has been tiling
  perfect progressive

Past

• tiled
  simple
• had tiled
  perfect
• was tiling
  progressive
• were tiling
  progressive
• had been tiling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will tile
  simple
• will have tiled
  perfect
• will be tiling
  progressive
• will have been tiling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of tile

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English tīgele (cognate with German Ziegel ), from Latin tēgula

Explanation

A tile is a flat piece of material that's used to cover a roof, floor, or wall. If you're artistic, you can make a mosaic out of small, colorful glass tiles. Most tiles are made out of ceramic, metal, glass, or stone. Many baths and showers are lined with ceramic tiles, and it's also common to find tiles covering bathroom and kitchen floors. Historians have traced tiles back at least as far as the 13th century BCE, in Mesopotamia. To cover a surface in tiles is to tile. Flat, hard game pieces are also commonly known as tiles, like the Scrabble tiles you pick at the beginning of a game. The root of this word means "to cover."

Example Sentences

Xu’s Green Tile Social Club, co-founded by her and three Asian-American friends, was hosting a beginners’ event.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026

The company owns Tile, trackers people attach to their keys, wallets, bikes and other objects, along with Jiobit, which also sells a pet tracker.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 22, 2025

“You talk to any designer or architect in L.A. and everybody’s infatuated with these houses,” says Mike Leflore, the co-founder of the Los Angeles-based company Zia Tile.

From New York Times • Mar. 28, 2024

If you buy an AirTag or Tile, consider a redundant system, like the Ekster tracker, a solar-powered tracking card.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 4, 2023

Tile corridors with arches that looked onto a large courtyard with beautiful gardens connected the buildings in the oldest part of campus.

From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez

Related Words

• brick
• plate
• shingle