A Pill Was Originally a Little Ball
A pill is a small tablet of medicine. The word simply means a small round thing.
A pill is a small rounded mass of medicine to be swallowed whole. The word is Latin *pilula*, a little ball, the diminutive of *pila*, a ball, and that describes exactly what a pill was: apothecaries rolled medicine into spheres by hand. Flat pressed *tablets* are a nineteenth-century invention, and pharmacists still distinguish the two, though everyday speech calls them all pills. A separate *pill*, of fabric forming small balls, comes from the hair root behind *peel*.
- A medicine tablet. *Take one pill.*
- The contraceptive pill. *The pill.*
- An unpleasant person. *He's a pill.*
- To form small balls. *The sweater pilled.*
- Latin — *pilula*, a little ball. *The root.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | pill | A pill. |
| Plural | pills | Pills. |
| Verb | pill | Pilling. |
| Related | tablet | A tablet. |
| Latin | pila | A ball. |
- He swallowed the pill.Medicine.
- Pilula means a little ball.Etymology.
- The jumper started to pill.Fabric.
Pill, tablet, capsule
- Pill — strictly a rolled ball of medicine
- Tablet — a pressed and compacted disc
- Capsule — powder or liquid in a gelatin shell
- Caplet — a tablet shaped like a capsule
- Lozenge — meant to dissolve in the mouth
Latin *pilula*, a little ball, diminutive of *pila*, a ball, through Dutch or Low German.
Is a tablet a pill?
Not strictly. A pill is rolled into a ball; a tablet is pressed flat. Everyday speech treats them as the same.
Why does a jumper pill?
That is a different word, from the Latin for hair, describing loose fibres balling up on the surface.