file

English has two main words spelled file: the smoothing tool, a native word, and the set of papers or row of people, from Latin filum “thread” by way of French.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /faɪl/^[4]

file¹ tool

Etymology

The tool is inherited from Middle English file, also vile,^[3] inherited from Old English fēol, Mercian fīl,^[5][3][2] from Proto-Germanic *finhlō,^[3] probably from Proto-Indo-European *peig- (“to cut, mark by incision”),^[5][3][2] the source also of Old Church Slavonic pila “file, saw” and Lithuanian piela “file”.^[5] It is cognate with Dutch vijl, German Feile and Old Norse þél.^[5][3][2] The verb is Old English fīlian.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A metal instrument for smoothing or shaping: before 800.^[3][7] It is the oldest of the English words spelled file.^[1]

Semantic evolution

Figurative use, especially of the polish given by a file, is from before 1225.^[7] The verb, “to rub or smooth with a file”, is probably from before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[3] In 19th-century slang a file was an artful, shrewd person, from 1812.^[7] Nail file is by 1819,^[5] and filings is from before 1398.^[3]

Timeline

• before 800 – a file.^[3][7]
• before 1200 – verb, to smooth with a file.^[3]
• before 1398 – filings.^[3]
• 1812 – slang, a shrewd person.^[7]
• 1819 – nail file.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A hand tool with a ridged surface for smoothing, shaping or cutting hard materials such as metal or wood.
2. A nail file.

Verb

1. To smooth, shape or cut with a file.

Word family

• filings
• nail file

file² papers; row

Etymology

The papers and the row are borrowed from Middle French filer (“to string documents on a wire; to spin thread”),^[3][5] and fil (“thread, string”),^[3][2] from Latin fīlum (“thread”),^[5][3][1] from Proto-Indo-European *gʷhi- (“thread, tendon”).^[5] The noun for a row of people is a separate, later borrowing of file (“row”), from filer in the sense “to march in file”, from Late Latin fīlāre “to spin, draw out in a line”.^[3][5] Latin fīlum is also behind filament, filigree and fillet.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb, to put documents on record: 1473 in Barnhart^[3] and the mid-15th century in Etymonline.^[5] The noun, a string or wire on which documents were hung, is from 1525.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The notion is of documents hung on a line in order for easy reference;^[5] methods have changed, but the word has stuck, which is why things were long said to be on file.^[5] To place among the records of a court is from the 1510s.^[5] A collection of papers arranged for reference is from 1566 in Barnhart^[3] and the 1620s in Etymonline.^[5] A line of people or soldiers one behind another, at first military, is from 1598,^[3][5] and a line of squares on a chessboard from the 1610s.^[5] The computer sense is from 1954, as is the sense of a reporter filing copy.^[5]

Timeline

• 1473 – verb, to put on record.^[3]
• 1525 – a wire for documents.^[3]
• 1566 – a collection of papers.^[3]
• 1598 – a line of people; verb, to march in a line.^[3]
• 1610s – a line of chess squares.^[5]
• 1954 – a computer file; to file a story.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A folder, box or cabinet for keeping papers in order.
2. A collection of papers or records kept together.
3. (computing) A collection of related data stored under one name.
4. A line of people or things one behind another: single file.
5. (chess) A vertical row of squares on a chessboard.

Verb

1. To put papers in order for storage or reference.
2. To submit officially, as an application or a lawsuit: to file for divorce.
3. To send a story to a newspaper.
4. To march or walk in a line.

Word family

• filing cabinet
• rank and file
• single file
• defile

Related words

• filament
• filigree
• fillet
• profile
• foul

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster also has an obsolete file “to defile”, from Old English fȳlan, from fūl “foul”.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press