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Added 2 October 2026

film

/fɪlm/ noun

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about film at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A thin layer of some substance; a pellicle; a membranous covering, causing opacity.
a clear plastic film for wrapping food
A medium used to capture images in a camera.
The sequence of still images itself, which produces a moving image when played; a movie.

verb

To record (activity, or a motion picture) on photographic film.
A Hollywood studio was filming on location in NYC.
To visually record (activity, or a motion picture) in general, with or without sound.
To cover or become covered with a thin skin or pellicle.

Origin

From Middle English filme, from Old English filmen (“film, membrane, thin skin, foreskin”), from Proto-West Germanic *filmīn-, from Proto-Germanic *filmīn- (“thin skin, membrane”) (compare Proto-Germanic *felma- (“skin, hide”)), from Proto-Indo-European *pél-mo- (“membrane”), from *pel- (“to cover, skin”). Cognate with Old Frisian filmene (“thin skin, human skin”), Middle Dutch velm, vilm (“fleece, film, membrane”), Old High German felm (“peel, skin, wrap”), Old English *felma (in ǣġerfelma (“egg membrane”)).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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