# sill
## English
### Pronunciation

* enPR: sĭl, IPA: /sɪl/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɪl

### Etymology 1

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).

#### Noun

sill (plural sills)
* (architecture, also "window sill") A breast wall; window breast; horizontal brink which forms the base of a window.
    She looked out the window resting her elbows on the window sill.
* (construction) 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.
    Coordinate terms: ground plate, groundsill, sole, sole plate, mudsill
* (geology) A stratum of rock, especially an intrusive layer of igneous rock lying parallel to surrounding strata.
** 1980, Geological Survey Professional Paper, Volume 1119, U.S. Government Printing Office:Minor palingenetic magmas probably were generated at this time and intruded the mantling rocks in the form of small sills and apophyses […] .
** 2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: The First 100 Million Years, Penguin, published 2019, page 55::The molten rock in the sills may have ignited vast reserves of shallowly buried natural gas, much like a match applied to a gas barbecue.
* A threshold or brink across the bottom of a canal lock for the gates to shut against.
* (anatomy) A raised area at the base of the nasal aperture in the skull.
    the nasal sill
* (military, historical) The inner edge of the bottom of an embrasure.

##### Usage notes

* Usually spelled cill when used in the context of canal or river engineering.

##### Quotations

* For quotations using this term, see Citations:sill.

##### Derived terms

* cross-sill
* doorsill
* groundsill
* mudsill
* silled
* windowsill

##### Related terms

* lintel
* plate sense #13 (construction)

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Etymology 2

Compare sile.

#### Noun

sill (plural sills)
* (UK) A young herring.

### Etymology 3

Compare thill.

#### Noun

sill (plural sills)
* The shaft or thill of a carriage.

### Etymology 4

Short for silly.

#### Adjective

sill (comparative more sill, superlative most sill)
* (rare, slang) Silly.

### References

* Harris, Cyril M.. Illustrated dictionary of historic architecture. New York: Dover Publications, 1983, 1977. Groundsill →ISBN

### Anagrams

* 'ills, lils, ILLs, LSIL, ills

## Romanian
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French sill, from English sill.

### Noun

sill n (uncountable)
* (geology) sill

#### Declension
## Swedish
### Etymology

From Old Norse síld, from Proto-Germanic *sīlą.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)
* Audio:(file)
* IPA: /sɪl/, [sɪlː]

### Noun

sill c
* herring

#### Usage notes

* Herring from the Atlantic on Sweden's west coast is called sill. The subspecies fished from the Baltic Sea on Sweden's east coast is called strömming.

#### Derived terms

* fetsill
* glasmästarsill
* islandssill
* kryddsill
* lipsill
* löksill
* matjessill
* pipsill
* saltsill
* senapssill
* sillake
* sillbit
* sillbord
* sillbricka
* sillbulle
* sillburk
* sillfilé
* sillfrukost
* sillgrissla
* sillhaj
* sillinläggning
* sillkung
* sillmjölke
* sillolja
* sillperiod
* sillrökeri
* sillsallad
* sillsalteri
* sillsexa
* sillstim
* sillstrypare
* silltrut
* silltunna
* sillval
* sillåda
* skarpsill
* spickesill

#### See also

* strömming

### References

* sill in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* sill in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* sill in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

## Welsh
### Etymology

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

### Noun

sill f (plural sillau or silloedd, not mutable)
* Alternative form of sillaf (“syllable”)

### Further reading

* R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “sill”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies