pail
Pail (noun) means a round container with a handle, used for carrying liquids or other loose materials; a bucket. Example: “The children filled their pails with sand at the beach.”
How to use pail
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA bucket, typically used for carrying water or other liquids.
"Pail" is more common in American English; British English tends to say "bucket."
Word forms
- Plural
- pails
Fill the gap
Can you complete this real example?
The children filled their _____ with sand at the beach.
Etymology
Comes from Middle English payle (“bucket, pail, milking pail”), of uncertain origin. It is 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 and -le. Compare West Frisian pegel (“liquid measure, fourth of a litre, half-pint”), German Pegel (“level of liquid, level”), Middle Dutch pegel (“half-pint”), and Danish pægl (“half-pint”). It is a doublet of peil. Alternatively, it may come from Old French paielle (“frying pan, warming pan; a liquid measure”), from Latin patella (“small pan, shallow dish, platter”), a diminutive of patina (“broad shallow pan, stewpan”) — perhaps the word blends both origins.
