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pail

Pronunciation: /peɪl/

The English word “pail” has 2 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A vessel of wood, tin, plastic, etc., usually cylindrical and having a handle -- used especially for carrying liquids, for example water or milk; a bucket (sometimes with a cover).
  2. A closed (covered) cylindrical shipping container.

Etymology

From Middle English payle (“bucket, pail, milking pail”), of uncertain origin. 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 + -le. Compare West Frisian pegel (“liquid measure, fourth of a litre, half-pint”), German Pegel (“level of liquid, level”),…

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