shingle

¹ American  

[shing-guhl] / ˈʃɪŋ gəl /

noun

1. a thin piece of wood, slate, metal, asbestos, or the like, usually oblong, laid in overlapping rows to cover the roofs and walls of buildings.

2. a woman's close-cropped haircut.

3. Informal. a small signboard, especially as hung before a doctor's or lawyer's office.

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verb (used with object)

shingled, shingling

1. to cover with shingles, as a roof.

2. to cut (hair) close to the head.

idioms

1. hang out one's shingle, to establish a professional practice, especially in law or medicine; open an office.

2. have / be a shingle short, to be mentally disturbed, mad, or eccentric.

shingle ² American  

[shing-guhl] / ˈʃɪŋ gəl /

noun

1. small, waterworn stones or pebbles such as lie in loose sheets or beds on a beach.

2. a beach, riverbank, or other area covered with such small pebbles or stones.

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shingle ³ American  

[shing-guhl] / ˈʃɪŋ gəl /

verb (used with object)

Metalworking.

shingled, shingling

1. to hammer or squeeze (puddled iron) into a bloom or billet, eliminating as much slag as possible; knobble.

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shingle ¹ British  

/ ˈʃɪŋɡəl /

noun

1. a thin rectangular tile, esp one made of wood, that is laid with others in overlapping rows to cover a roof or a wall

2. a woman's short-cropped hairstyle

3. a small signboard or nameplate fixed outside the office of a doctor, lawyer, etc

4. informal unintelligent or mentally subnormal

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verb

1. to cover (a roof or a wall) with shingles

2. to cut (the hair) in a short-cropped style

shingle ² British  

/ ˈʃɪŋɡəl /

noun

1. coarse gravel, esp the pebbles found on beaches

2. a place or area strewn with shingle

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shingle ³ British  

/ ˈʃɪŋɡəl /

verb

1. (tr) metallurgy to hammer or squeeze the slag out of (iron) after puddling in the production of wrought iron

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shingle More Idioms  

1. see hang out one's shingle.

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Other Word Forms

• shingler
  noun
• shingly
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of shingle¹

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English scincle, sc(h)ingle, shyngle, ultimately from Latin scindula, variant of scandula “lath, shingle” ( Middle English -g- is unexplained); Latin scindula is due perhaps to association with Greek schíza, schídax “piece of split wood, splinter”

Origin of shingle²

First recorded in 1530–40; apparently variant of earlier chingle; further origin uncertain; but compare North Frisian singel “gravel,” Norwegian singel “small stones”

Origin of shingle³

First recorded in 1665–75; from French cingler “to whip, beat,” from German zängeln “to shingle,” derivative of Zange “pincers, pliers”; see also tong

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Explanation

A shingle is a thin piece of wood used in making a roof or a signboard outside an office, especially a doctor’s or lawyer's. If you’re opening a business, hang your shingle outside so people can find you. One kind of shingle is a rectangular piece of wood or other material used to make a roof. The other is a type of small sign outside an office that shows someone is ready to see clients, patients, or other types of customers. The word shingle is from the Latin scindere for "to split,” as in splitting wood, and whatever you do with a shingle, it’s a small flat hunk of wood.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

shingle shingled shingling

Agents hung up their shingle in even the smallest of towns, becoming part of the community they sold to.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026

We hung out an enormous “for sale” shingle and put just about everything on the market.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2026

Old stone walls near the shoreline were flattened, while the Exmoor bay's shingle ridge was breached and moved inland by around 90 metres, creating a salt marsh which was left to its natural course.

From BBC ● May 4, 2026

Leonard said one of the main species the initiative aimed to protect was the ringed plover, a small coastal bird that nests directly on beaches and shingle.

From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2026

I hooked my foot around the ladder rung and leaned deep into the cistern, quenching the shingle in the water.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

Nigerian models donned outfits of seemingly impossible amounts of fabric folded and moulded into massive silhouettes, or overlapping in shingled, feather-like patterns.

From Barron's ● Oct. 3, 2026

Forty minutes east of Absolem, I spotted the shingled barn of Bailey’s Orchard, where 79-year-old farmer Rodney Bailey tends dozens of obscure apple varieties including King David, Chenango Strawberry and Black Gilliflower.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025

When you imagine a typical American family home, you probably picture something like John Williamson and Sue Spaziani’s house, with its shingled roof and wraparound porch.

From Slate ● Oct. 17, 2024

The buildings and shingled cottages are bright pastel, the waterfront dotted with cafes and patio umbrellas.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2023

Dicey walked down one and saw a large house, white shingled, and water beyond it.

From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt

Freesuns is an early adopter of matrix shingling technology in building-integrated PV.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

For presentation, gingerly prop the tofu against the pork, shingling it out slightly.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026

Top each with two thin slices of ham and the cucumbers, shingling the cucumbers neatly on top of each sandwich.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 13, 2022

In addition to potted plants, they have moss-wrapped kokedama, cork-mounted plants, terrariums and shingling plants.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 9, 2021

He heard horses’ hoofs plodding on the road and far-off pounding on wood where a neighbor was shingling a barn.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck

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