*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of prill

A variant of purl, 17th century.

2 source sectionsBrief source recordWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 2 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Source etymology 1

Original entry ↗
noun

a rill, a small stream · a spinning top

verb

to flow, spurt

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

A variant of purl, 17th century.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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      "purl",
      "purl#English"
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  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "a rill, a small stream",
        "a spinning top"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
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    },
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      "glosses": [
        "to flow, spurt"
      ],
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Source etymology 2

Original entry ↗
noun

a pellet, a granule, a small bead · rich copper ore remaining after removal of low-grade material; a droplet of copper suspended in molten slag · A nugget of virgin metal. · The button of metal from an assay.

verb

to produce pellets by forming a molten substance into droplets which solidify while falling

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Unknown. OED mentions Cornish pryl (“sheep-droppings”) as a likely loan from English.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

  • Cognate mentionprylkw
Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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      "expansion": "Unknown"
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    {
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      "args": {
        "1": "kw",
        "2": "pryl",
        "3": "",
        "4": "sheep-droppings"
      },
      "expansion": "Cornish pryl (“sheep-droppings”)"
    }
  ],
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    [
      "pryl",
      "pryl#Cornish"
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  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
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        "a pellet, a granule, a small bead",
        "rich copper ore remaining after removal of low-grade material; a droplet of copper suspended in molten slag",
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        "to produce pellets by forming a molten substance into droplets which solidify while falling"
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Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for prill →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-cHJpbGw