Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

kiln

/kɪln/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.11 in modern English

Syllables: kiln
IPA: /kɪln/

8

Scrabble Score

4

Letters

1

Syllables

4

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An oven or furnace or a heated chamber, for the purpose of hardening, burning, calcining or drying anything; for example, firing ceramics, curing or preserving tobacco, or drying grain.

verb

To bake in a kiln; to fire.

Transitive verb

Example Sentences

"One typical Grecian kiln engorged one thousand muleloads of juniper wood in a single burn. Fifty such kilns would devour six thousand metric tons of trees and brush annually."
"When making pottery we need to allow the bisque to dry before we kiln it."

Etymology

From Middle English kilne, from Old English cyln, cylen, cylin (“large oven, kiln”), from Latin culīna (“kitchen, kitchen stove”). Middle English -ln(e) usually becomes modern -ll as in mill. The pronunciation /kɪln/ may be based on dialects in which this simplification did not take place, but it must have been at least reinforced by spelling pronunciation.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: *pekʷ-, kilne, cyln, culīna

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /kɪln/
British English: /kɪln/

Usage

Transitive verb

Inflected Forms

kilns (plural) kill (alternative, rare) kilns (present, singular) kilning (participle, present) kilned (participle, past) kilned (past)

Derived Forms

brickkiln kilnhole kilnlike kilnman limekiln

Phrases

anagama kiln bottle kiln climbing kiln dragon kiln Ju kiln malt-kiln mid-kiln Ru kiln

Homonyms

kill (for /kɪl/)

Rhymes With

milne mylne will with a will still until bill kill we'll hill till ill

Questions

How do you pronounce kiln?: The recorded pronunciation is /kɪln/.
What does kiln mean?: An oven or furnace or a heated chamber, for the purpose of hardening, burning, calcining or drying anything; for example, firing ceramics, curing or preserving tobacco, or drying grain.
Where does kiln come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce kiln

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “kiln”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/kɪln/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “kiln”.
Repeat and practice — Say “kiln” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.