Tilings

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A pattern or arrangement of tiles laid out in a decorative manner for flooring or walls
2. The process of covering a surface with tiles for aesthetic or functional purposes
3. A combination of geometric shapes or designs created using tiles to enhance visual appeal

Etymology: "Tilings" is the plural of "tiling," which in turn is the noun form of the verb "to tile," so the plural points back to the way tiling is laid: in courses, row by row, each piece set against the next. The base noun "tile" comes from Old English "tigele," borrowed from Latin "tegula," a roof tile derived from "tegere," to cover. Its earliest sense was a roofing piece, and the flooring and wall senses came later as the same kind of baked clay slab was laid on other surfaces. Plural forms like this one are where English keeps the idea of repetition alive: a single tiling is a covering, but several tilings usually refer to separate surfaces or patterns, each one built from many identical pieces set edge to edge.