Aisle

How to spell aisle

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce aisle

What does aisle mean?

1. nounA passage between rows of seats or shelves, such as in a shop, church, plane, or theatre.

Aisle in a sentence

• The flowers are in the second aisle.

• It is now time for them to walk down the aisle.

Where does aisle come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word reaches modern English from the Latin ala, meaning 'wing', which in architecture described the side wing of a church running parallel to the central nave. It entered Middle English through Old French as 'ele' or 'ile', and at that stage it had no silent letters at all. The spelling was later muddled by two other words: 'isle' (an island, from Latin insula), which lent it the silent 's', and the French 'aile' (wing), which lent it the leading 'a'. The result is a word that sounds simply like 'I'll' yet carries two etymological souvenirs, the 's' and the 'a', neither of which is pronounced. That tangled history is exactly why the spelling traps people, since nothing in the sound predicts the silent 'a' and 's'.

How the word is built

• aisle (from Latin ala: wing); the silent 'a' and 's' come from later spelling influence

Words that sound like aisle

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• i'll: A contraction of 'I will' or 'I shall', expressing the speaker's own future action or intention.
• isle: A small island, often used poetically or in place names.