How to pronounce pile

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What pile means

noun

Most people know pile in its everyday sense. Here's its other meaning.

The soft raised threads on the surface of a rug or velvet

In a sentence: The velvet chair had a thick pile that felt as soft as a cat's fur.

Where it comes from: It comes partly from an old French word for hair and partly from the Latin pilus, hair. It is a different word from pile, a heap, which comes from the Latin pila, a pillar.

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