film

Etymology

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”)). Related also to Dutch vel (“sheet, skin”), German Fell (“skin, hide, fur”), Swedish fjäll (“fur blanket, cloth, scale”), Norwegian fille (“rag, cloth”), Lithuanian plėvē (“membrane, scab”), Russian плева́ (plevá, “membrane”), Ancient Greek πέλμα (pélma, “sole of the foot”). More at fell. Sense of a thin coat of something is 1577, extended by 1845 to the coating of chemical gel on photographic plates. By 1895 this also meant the coating plus the paper or celluloid.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɪlm/, [fɪɫm]

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (Scotland, Northumbria, Ireland) IPA^(key): [ˈfɪlm̩], [ˈfɪləm]
• Rhymes: -ɪlm
• (Indic) IPA^(key): /filim/, /filam/

Noun

film (countable and uncountable, plural films)

1. A thin layer of some substance; a pellicle; a membranous covering, causing opacity.

   a clear plastic film for wrapping food

   • 1712 (date written), Alexander Pope, “Messiah. A Sacred Eclogue, in Imitation of Virgil’s Pollio.”, in The Works of Alexander Pope Esq. […], volume I, London: […] J[ohn] and P[aul] Knapton, H. Lintot, J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, and S. Draper, published 1751, →OCLC, page 40, lines 39–40:

     He from thick films ſhall purge the viſual ray, / And on the ſightleſs eye-ball pour the day: […]

3. (photography) A medium used to capture images in a camera.
4. (uncountable) A visual art form that consists of a sequence of still images preserved on a recording medium to give the illusion of motion; movies generally.
   • 2014 March 3, Zoe Alderton, “‘Snapewives’ and ‘Snapeism’: A Fiction-Based Religion within the Harry Potter Fandom”, in Religions‎, volume 5, number 1, MDPI, →DOI, pages 219–257:

     Despite personal schisms and differences in spiritual experience, there is a very coherent theology of Snape shared between the wives. To examine this manifestation of religious fandom, I will first discuss the canon scepticism and anti-Rowling sentiment that helps to contextualise the wider belief in Snape as a character who extends beyond book and film.

6. (countable) The sequence of still images itself; a movie.
7. A slender thread, such as that of a cobweb.
   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:

     Her whip of cricket's bone, the lash of film.

Verb

film (third-person singular simple present films, present participle filming, simple past and past participle filmed)

1. (ambitransitive) To record (activity, or a motion picture) on photographic film.

   A Hollywood studio was filming on location in NYC.

   I tried to film the UFO as it passed overhead.

   • 2021 June 30, Tim Dunn, “How we made... Secrets of the London Underground”, in RAIL, number 934, pages 49–50:

     It was truly one of the most horrific filming experiences of my career there, contrasting neatly with some of the best of my career - filming in various off-limits storerooms at LTM's Acton Depot.

2. (ambitransitive) To visually record (activity, or a motion picture) in general, with or without sound.
3. (transitive) To cover or become covered with a thin skin or pellicle.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], line 146:

     It will but skin and film the ulcerous place.

   • 2012, Nathan Archer, Valhalla:

     Her legs folded under her, and her eyes filmed over.

Anagrams

• MILF, milf

Etymology

From Dutch film, from English film, or borrowed from English film.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fəlm/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

film (plural films)

1. film

Etymology

Borrowed from French film, from English film.

Noun

film m (plural filma, definite filmi, definite plural filmat)

1. film
2. movie

Etymology

Ultimately from English film.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [film]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

film (definite accusative filmi, plural filmlər)

1. film, movie

   Synonym: kino

   sənədli film ― documentary film

   bədii film ― feature film

   cizgi film ― animated cartoon

   film çəkmək ― to shoot a movie

   film çəkilişi ― film set, movie-making

   film nümayişi ― film screening

Further reading

• “film” in Obastan.com.

Etymology

Borrowed from English film.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈfilm]

Noun

film m (plural films)

1. film (a movie)

   Synonym: pel·lícula

Further reading

• “film” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Etymology

Borrowed from English film.

Noun

film

1. film (clarification of this definition is needed)

References

• Mirjejev, V. A., Usejinov, S. M. (2002) Ukrajinsʹko-krymsʹkotatarsʹkyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]‎, Simferopol: Dolya, →ISBN