Wall

How to spell wall

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce wall

What does wall mean?

1. nounAn upright structure that encloses, divides, or supports a space.
2. verbTo enclose, block, or separate something with a barrier.

Wall in a sentence

• noun

  They painted the kitchen wall a soft grey.

• verb

  The council plans to wall off the construction site for safety.

• noun

  A thick stone wall ran along the edge of the field.

• verb

  Developers chose to wall in the courtyard to create privacy.

Where does wall come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native word with deep roots in Old English, where weall meant a rampart, a defensive earthwork, or a dyke. The Anglo-Saxons did not invent the term independently; it was borrowed early from the Latin vallum, which meant a palisade or line of stakes set along a defensive earthwork, itself built on vallus 'a stake'. This Latin loan spread across the West Germanic languages before the migration to Britain, which is why related forms appear in Dutch wal and German Wall. Over the centuries the meaning broadened from purely military fortifications to any upright structure that encloses or divides space, including the everyday walls of a house. The spelling has stayed remarkably stable and simple, and the double 'l' has been a fixture since the earliest written records.

How the word is built

• wall (from Old English weall: rampart, defensive structure)