boil

/bɔɪ(ə)l/

UK: /bɔɪ(ə)l/

boil

English Noun Top 7,194

American (Lessac) (medium)

Female 0.7s

American (Amy) (medium)

Female 0.7s

American (Ryan) (medium)

Male 0.3s

Definition

A localized accumulation of pus in the skin, resulting from infection.

Etymology

From Middle English bile, büle (“boil, tumor”), from Old English bȳl, bȳle (“boil, swelling”), from Proto-Germanic *būlijō, *būlō (“boil”). Akin to Dutch buil (“boil, swelling”), German Beule (“boil, hump”), Icelandic beyla (“swelling, hump”). The expected form is bile; the rounding of the diphthong could be caused by the initial b- and/or by association with etymology 2.