noun · verb · 5 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.
/ʃeɪl/
rhymes with -eɪl
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:SH EY1 L
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A shell, scale or husk; a cod or pod.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
A fine-grained sedimentary rock of a thin, laminated, and often friable, structure.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Topics: geography, geology, natural-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
The shale oil and shale gas segment of the oil and gas industry.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, metonymically, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
verb
Meaning 4
To take off the shell or coat of.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
noun
Meaning 5
a sedimentary rock formed by the deposition of successive layers of clay
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: sedimentary rock
Narrower terms: humic shale, oil shale
History
Etymology
From Middle English schale (“shell, husk; scale”), from Old English sċealu (“shell, husk, pod”), from Proto-West Germanic *skalu, from Proto-Germanic *skalō, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to split, cut”), from *(s)kel- (“to split, cleave”). See also West Frisian skaal (“dish”), Dutch schaal (“shell”), schalie (“shale”), German Schale (“husk, pod”); also Lithuanian skalà (“splinter”), Old Church Slavonic скала (skala, “rock, stone”), Polish skała (“rock”), Albanian halë (“fish bone, splinter”), Sanskrit कल (kalá, “small part”); also Hittite [script needed] (iškalla, “to tear apart, slit open”), Lithuanian skélti (“to split”), Ancient Greek σκάλλω (skállō, “to hoe, harrow”). Doublet of scale. See also shell.
Across languages
Translations
64 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Finnish:
kuori
— shell, husk, cod, pod
Galician:
cadorna
— shell, husk, cod, pod
Galician:
casca
— shell, husk, cod, pod
Spanish:
cáscara
— shell, husk, cod, pod
Spanish:
vaina
— shell, husk, cod, pod
Ahtna:
tsʼes taeł
— sedimentary rock
Bulgarian:
шиста
(šista)
— sedimentary rock
Catalan:
esquist
— sedimentary rock
Chinese Cantonese:
頁岩 /页岩
(jip6 ngaam4)
— sedimentary rock
Chinese Mandarin:
頁岩 /页岩
(yèyán)
— sedimentary rock
Czech:
lupek
— sedimentary rock
Czech:
jílovitá břidlice
— sedimentary rock
Esperanto:
skisto
— sedimentary rock
Finnish:
savikivi
— sedimentary rock
Finnish:
liuske
— sedimentary rock
French:
schiste
— sedimentary rock
Galician:
rachón
— sedimentary rock
Galician:
fraga
— sedimentary rock
Georgian:
თიხიანი ფიქალი
(tixiani pikali)
— sedimentary rock
German:
Tonstein
— sedimentary rock
German:
Ölschiefer
— sedimentary rock
German:
Schieferton
— sedimentary rock
German:
Schiefergestein
— sedimentary rock
German:
Bitumenschiefer
— sedimentary rock
German:
Schwarzschiefer
— sedimentary rock
German:
Kupferschiefer
— sedimentary rock
Hungarian:
agyagpala
— sedimentary rock
Hungarian:
pala
— sedimentary rock
Icelandic:
leirsteinn
— sedimentary rock
Icelandic:
leirflögur
— sedimentary rock
Ingrian:
savislantsa
— sedimentary rock
Italian:
scisto
— sedimentary rock
Japanese:
頁岩
(ketsugan)
— sedimentary rock
Japanese:
泥板岩
(deibangan)
— sedimentary rock
Korean:
혈암
(hyeoram)
— sedimentary rock
Macedonian:
шкри́лец
(škrílec)
— sedimentary rock
Norman:
bliu-pièrre
— sedimentary rock
Norwegian Bokmål:
leirskifer
— sedimentary rock
Norwegian Bokmål:
skifer
— sedimentary rock
Norwegian Nynorsk:
leirskifer
— sedimentary rock
Norwegian Nynorsk:
skifer
— sedimentary rock
Persian:
شیست
(šist)
— sedimentary rock
Polish:
łupek
— sedimentary rock
Portuguese:
folhelho
— sedimentary rock
Russian:
сла́нец
(slánec)
— sedimentary rock
Serbo-Croatian:
škriljac
— sedimentary rock
Serbo-Croatian:
škriljevac
— sedimentary rock
Spanish:
esquisto
— sedimentary rock
Spanish:
pizarra
— sedimentary rock
Spanish:
lutita
— sedimentary rock
Swedish:
lerskiffer
— sedimentary rock
Swedish:
skiffer
— sedimentary rock
Tagalog:
eskuwisto
— sedimentary rock
Turkish:
şeyl
— sedimentary rock
Turkish:
şist
— sedimentary rock
Bulgarian:
обелвам
(obelvam)
— to take off the shell, husk, cod, pod
Finnish:
kuoria
— to take off the shell, husk, cod, pod
French:
écoquiller
— to take off the shell, husk, cod, pod
French:
décoquiller
— to take off the shell, husk, cod, pod
French:
écaler
— to take off the shell, husk, cod, pod
French:
décortiquer
— to take off the shell, husk, cod, pod
German:
entspelzen
— to take off the shell, husk, cod, pod
German:
schälen
— to take off the shell, husk, cod, pod
German:
enthülsen
— to take off the shell, husk, cod, pod
