kiln

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English kilne, also kulne,^[2][3] inherited from Old English cylen, also cyln and cylene,^[4][5][6][7] borrowed from Latin culīna (“kitchen, cooking stove”).^{[6][8][9][5][7]} The OED explains the Old English form by the usual shift of the Latin stress to the first syllable, as in kitchen.^[6] According to Ayto, culīna is an unexplained variant of coquīna (“kitchen”), from coquō (“to cook”),^[10] so that a kiln was etymologically a place for cooking, not for burning or drying.^[10] The Latin verb is from Proto-Indo-European *pekʷ- (“to cook, ripen”).^[8][9] The Scandinavian word, Old Norse kylna, is probably from English, as Welsh cilin certainly is.^[6][8] In Middle English the final -n became silent in most districts, hence the frequent spelling without it;^[6][11] the same loss happened in mill, once milne.^[11][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A furnace or oven for burning, baking or drying: in Old English, first in the Corpus Glossary,^[6] before 800 according to Barnhart.^[5] Old English glossaries render the Latin words for a drying place and a small furnace with it.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The kiln of Old and Middle English was used above all for drying malt and grain and for burning lime and bricks.^[2][12] The phrase to set the kiln on fire, to cause a great commotion, is recorded from 1590, in Lodge's Rosalynde,^[6] and kiln also came to mean the amount a kiln holds (1743).^[6] The verb, to burn, bake or dry in a kiln, is recorded from 1715.^[6][5] Johnson (1755) defined it as a stove built to dry or burn things.^[13] Dialects kept the old pronunciation in the forms kill and kell, from Scotland to Somerset, and had compounds such as kiln-barn, a barn attached to a kiln.^[14]

Timeline

• before 800 – Old English cylen, a furnace or oven for burning, baking or drying.^[5][6]
• before 1325 – Middle English kilne.^[5]
• 1590 – to set the kiln on fire, to cause a commotion.^[6]
• 1715 – verb, to burn, bake or dry in a kiln.^[6][5]
• 1743 – a kilnful.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A furnace or oven for burning, firing or drying a substance, such as one for firing pottery or bricks, burning lime, or drying grain or hops: The potter loaded the kiln with glazed bowls.^{[15][16][12][6]}

Verb

1. To burn, fire or dry in a kiln.^[15][16][6]

Word family

• brickkiln
• limekiln

Related words

• culinary
• kitchen
• cook

Usage notes

The pronunciation without the n, rhyming with pill, is the traditional one among people who work with kilns; most other speakers sound the n.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
15. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
16. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins