Standard Lemma guide

kiln

noun · verb · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /kɪln/
  • Received-Pronunciation, dated: /kɪl/
  • General-American: /kɪln/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɪln
  • rhymes with -ɪl
  • homophone: kill (for /kɪl/)
  • CMU ARPABET: K IH1 L N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To bake in a kiln; to fire.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Examples

  • When making pottery we need to allow the bisque to dry before we kiln it.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a furnace for firing or burning or drying such things as porcelain or bricks

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: furnace

Narrower terms: brickkiln, dry kiln, limekiln, muffle, oast

History

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.

Across languages

Translations

62 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: furrë — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Arabic: فُرْن (furn) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Armenian: թրծավառարան (tʻrcavaṙaran) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Armenian: չորացնող վառարան (čʻoracʻnoġ vaṙaran) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Azerbaijani: kürə — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Bulgarian: керамична пещ (keramična pešt) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Bulgarian: варова пещ (varova pešt) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Catalan: forn — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Chinese Mandarin: 窯 /窑 (yáo) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Czech: vypalovací pec — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Dutch: oven — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Dutch: drooghut — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Dutch: droogkamer — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Estonian: põletusahi — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Finnish: uuni — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Finnish: riihi — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Finnish: kuivaamo — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Finnish: kuivuri — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • French: four — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • French: touraille — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Galician: forno — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Georgian: გამოსაწვავი ღუმელი (gamosac̣vavi ɣumeli) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • German: Brennofen — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • German: Dörrofen — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • German: Darre — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Gujarati: ભઠ્ઠી (bhaṭhṭhī) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Hebrew: כִּבְשָׁן (kivshán) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Hindi: भट्ठा (bhaṭṭhā) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Hindi: भट्ठी (bhaṭṭhī) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Hungarian: égetőkemence — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Hungarian: boksa — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Irish: áith — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Italian: fornace — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Japanese: 窯 (kama) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Japanese: 炉 (ro) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Korean: 가마 (gama) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Latin: fornāx — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Latvian: ceplis — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Ligurian: fornâxe — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Manx: aiee — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Māori: umutahu — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Marathi: भट्टी (bhaṭṭī) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Persian: کوره (kure) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Persian: تون (tun) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Polish: suszarnia — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Polish: piec do wypalania cegły — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Portuguese: fornaça — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Russian: суши́льная печь (sušílʹnaja pečʹ) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Russian: печь для о́бжига и су́шки (pečʹ dlja óbžiga i súški) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Scottish Gaelic: àth — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Spanish: horno — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Swahili: tanuri — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Swedish: kölna — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Swedish: torkugn — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Swedish: torkhus — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Swedish: brännugn — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Tamil: சூளை (cūḷai) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Thai: เตาเผา (dtao păo) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Turkish: kireç ocağı — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Ottoman Turkish: فرون (furun, fırın) — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Vietnamese: lò — oven, furnace or heated chamber
  • Welsh: odyn — oven, furnace or heated chamber