pail

Pronunciation: /peɪl/

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a roughly cylindrical vessel that is open at the top
  2. noun the quantity contained in a pail

Etymology

From Middle English payle (“bucket, pail, milking pail”), of an uncertain origin. Likely from Old English pæġel (“wine vessel, container for liquids, pail; a liquid measure”), from Proto-West Germanic *pagil, from Proto-Indo-European *bak- (“peg, club”), equivalent to peg + -le. Compare West Frisian pegel (“liquid measure, fourth of a litre, half-pint”), German Pegel (“level of liquid, level”), Middle Dutch pegel (“half-pint”), Danish pægl (“half-pint”). Doublet of peil. Alternatively from Old French paielle (“frying pan, warming pan; a liquid measure”), from Latin patella (“small pan, shallow dish, platter”), diminutive of patina (“broad shallow pan, stewpan”). Perhaps a conflation of both.

In classic literature

Synonyms

bucket

Semantic network

Broader (hypernyms)
vessel
Narrower (hyponyms)
slop pail, kibble, dredging bucket, cannikin, wine bucket, dinner pail

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