film

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”), Borrowed from Latin vēlum (“a cloth, covering, awning, curtain, veil”). 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.

• IPA^(key): /fɪlm/, [fɪɫm]

  Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

  Rhymes: -ɪlm

• (Scotland, Northumbria, Ireland, Northern Ontario) IPA^(key): [ˈfɪlm̩], [ˈfɪləm]
• (MLE) IPA^(key): /fɪu̯m/
• (Indic) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪl(ɪ)m/

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.
5. (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^[3], 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.

7. (countable) The sequence of still images itself, which produces a moving image when played; a movie.
8. 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.

• (motion picture): movie

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.

• MILF, milf

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

• IPA^(key): /fəlm/

• Audio:

  (file)

film (plural films)

1. film

Borrowed from French film, from English film.

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

1. film
2. movie

Ultimately from English film.

• IPA^(key): [film]

• Audio:

  (file)

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

• “film” in Obastan.com.

Borrowed from English film.

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

film m (plural films)

1. film (a movie)

   Synonym: pel·lícula

• “film”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Borrowed from English film.

film

1. film (clarification of this definition is needed.)

• Mirjejev, V. A.; Usejinov, S. M. (2002), Ukrajinsʹko-krymsʹkotatarsʹkyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]‎^[4], Simferopol: Dolya, →ISBN

Borrowed from English film.^[1]

• IPA^(key): [ˈfɪlm]

• Audio:

  (file)

film m inan

1. (photography) film
2. movie, film, motion picture

• “film”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “film”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Borrowed from English film.

• IPA^(key): /film/, [ˈfilm]
• Rhymes: -ilm

film c (singular definite filmen, plural indefinite film)

1. a movie, a film, motion picture
2. film; a thin layer
3. (sports, cant) filming, acting

Borrowed from English film.

• IPA^(key): /fɪlm/, /ˈfɪləm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: film
• Rhymes: -ɪlm, -ɪləm

film m (plural films, diminutive filmpje n)

1. a film, thin layer or membrane; especially the physical medium film
2. a film production, movie
3. (uncountable) the movie sector, cinema

• → Caribbean Hindustani: felam
• → Caribbean Javanese: film
• → Indonesian: film
• → Javanese: film, filem

German Film.

film (genitive filmi, partitive filmi)

1. film (motion picture)
2. photographic film

Declension of film (ÕS type 22e/riik, length gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		film	filmid
accusative	nom.
	gen.	filmi
genitive			filmide
partitive		filmi	filme filmisid
illative		filmi filmisse	filmidesse filmesse
inessive		filmis	filmides filmes
elative		filmist	filmidest filmest
allative		filmile	filmidele filmele
adessive		filmil	filmidel filmel
ablative		filmilt	filmidelt filmelt
translative		filmiks	filmideks filmeks
terminative		filmini	filmideni
essive		filmina	filmidena
abessive		filmita	filmideta
comitative		filmiga	filmidega

• filmindus
• filmilint
• värvifilm

• film in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)

Borrowed from English film.

• IPA^(key): /film/

• Audio; “un film”:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Agen)):

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Paris)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

film m (plural films)

1. movie, film

• → Albanian: film
• → Arabic: فِيلْم (fīlm), فِلْم (film)
• → Khmer: ហ្វីល (fiil)
• → Lingala: filme
• → Persian: فیلم (film)
• → Romanian: film
• → Turkish: film
• → Vietnamese: phim

• “film”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

film

1. singular imperative of filmen

Borrowed from English film.^[1]

• IPA^(key): [ˈfilm]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: film
• Rhymes: -ilm

film (countable and uncountable, plural filmek)

1. (photography) film (a medium used to capture images in a camera)
2. film, movie, motion picture, picture (a recorded sequence of images displayed on a screen at a rate sufficiently fast to create the appearance of motion)
3. film, cinematic art, cinema, cinematography (the art of making films and movies)

• film in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

• filem
• pilem (uncommon)

Borrowed from Dutch film.

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈfiləm/ [ˈfi.ləm]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iləm

film (plural film-film)

1. film (a thin layer of some substance)
2. film (a medium used to capture images in a camera)
3. film (a movie or motion picture)

• “film”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

• filme

Unadapted borrowing from English film.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfilm/
• Rhymes: -ilm
• Hyphenation: fìlm

film m (invariable)

1. film, movie

   Synonym: pellicola

   Guardi dei film? ― Do you watch movies?

• cinema

• film in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Borrowed from Dutch film.

film

1. film

• The Linguistic Center of Yogyakarta (2011), “film”, in Kamus Basa Jawa (Bausastra Jawa) [Javanese Language Dictionary (Javanese Dictionary)] (in Javanese), 2nd edition, Yogyakarta: Kanisius, →ISBN

Borrowed from Polish film.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfilm/
• Rhymes: -ilm
• Syllabification: film

film m inan (related adjective filmòwi)

1. movie, film, motion picture
   • 2022, Karolëna Serkòwskô-Secechòwskô, “Kaszëbsczi filmówcë”, in Pomerania‎^[5], number 12, Gdańsk: Zrzeszenie Kaszubsko-Pomorskie:

     Czej jô ò tim ùczuł, mësla ò stwòrzenim taczégò filmù zaczãła w głowie dozdrzelewac.

     When I heard about it, the idea of creating such a film began to grow in my mind.

• Jan Trepczyk (1994), “film”, in Słownik polsko-kaszubski (in Kashubian), volumes 1–2
• Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011), “film”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi‎^[6]
• “film”, in Internetowi Słowôrz Kaszëbsczégò Jãzëka [Internet Dictionary of the Kashubian Language], Fundacja Kaszuby, 2022

From Russian фильм (filʹm), English film.

film

1. movie, film

Declension of film (type 1a/tila, no gradation)
	singular	plural
nominative	film	filmad
genitive	filman	filmoiden
partitive	filmad	filmoid
essive	filman	filmoin
instructive	—	filmoin
inessive	filmas	filmoiš
elative	filmaspiä	filmoišpiä
illative	filmah	filmoihe
adessive	filmal	filmoil
ablative	filmalpiä	filmoilpiä
allative	filmale	filmoile
abessive	filmata	filmoita
prolative	filmači	filmoiči
translative	filmaks	filmoikš
additive	filmahpiä	filmoihepiä
*) the accusative corresponds with either the genitive (sg) or nominative (pl)

• M. Pahomov (2022), “film”, in Lüüdi-venän, venä-lüüdin sanakirdʹ‎^[7], Helsinki: Lüüdilaine Siebr, →ISBN, page 40

Borrowed from English film.

film m (plural films)

1. (Jersey) movie, film

film m (definite singular filmen, indefinite plural filmer, definite plural filmene)

1. a film (for taking photographs in a camera)
2. a film (thin material, layer or coating)
3. a film, movie (cinematic production)

• filme

film

1. imperative of filme

• “film” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

film m (definite singular filmen, indefinite plural filmar, definite plural filmane)

1. a film (for taking photographs in a camera)
2. a film (thin material, layer or coating)
3. a film, movie (cinematic production)

• “film” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Borrowed from English film.^[1][2][3] First attested in the 19th century.^[4]

• IPA^(key): /ˈfilm/

• Audio 1:

  (file)

• Audio 2:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ilm
• Syllabification: film

film m inan (diminutive filmik, related adjective filmowy)

1. film, movie, motion picture (series of pictures creating the illusion of motion)
2. film (art of creating such a series of pictures)

   Synonyms: dziesiąta muza, kino

3. film (material on which such a series of pictures are recorded)
4. (photography) film, photographic film

   Synonyms: błona, klisza, taśma filmowa

5. (engineering, sciences) film (thin layer of some substance; a pellicle; a membranous covering, causing opacity)

• → Kashubian: film

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), film is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 7 times in scientific texts, 44 times in news, 31 times in essays, 6 times in fiction, and 15 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 103 times, making it the 602nd most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.^[5]

• film in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• film in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Unadapted borrowing from English film.

film m (plural filmes)

1. (dated or rare) alternative form of filme

• филм (film) — post-1930s Cyrillic spelling

Borrowed from French film or German Film, from English film.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfilm/

• Audio (female voice):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ilm
• Hyphenation: film

film n (plural filme)

1. movie, film

• Romanian vocabulary. In: Haspelmath, M. & Tadmor, U. (eds.) World Loanword Database. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

From English film, from Middle English filme, from Old English filmen (“film, membrane, thin skin, foreskin”), from Proto-Germanic *filminją (“thin skin, membrane”), from Proto-Indo-European *pél-mo- (“membrane”), from *pel- (“to cover, skin”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈfilim/

film m (genitive singular film, plural filmichean)

1. film, movie

Borrowed from English film.

fȉlm m inan (Cyrillic spelling фи̏лм)

1. film (photography)
2. film (motion picture)

Borrowed from German Film.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfilm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ilm
• Syllabification: film

film m inan

1. film, movie, motion picture
2. (photography) film, photographic film

• film in silling.org

Borrowed from English film.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /film/, [ˈfilm]
• Rhymes: -ilm

film m inan (genitive singular filmu, nominative plural filmy, genitive plural filmov, declension pattern of dub)

1. photographic film
2. movie, motion picture

• filmár
• filmovať
• filmový
• filmovo
• filmík

• “film”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026

Borrowed from English film.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfilm/ [ˈfilm]
• Rhymes: -ilm
• Syllabification: film

film m (plural films)

1. alternative spelling of filme (film, motion picture)

• “film”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• Manuel Seco; Olimpia Andrés; Gabino Ramos (3 August 2023), “film”, in Diccionario del español actual [Dictionary of Current Spanish] (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA [BBVA Foundation]

• Audio:

  (file)

film c

1. film; a thin layer
2. film; medium used to capture images in a camera
3. a movie

• film in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

Borrowed from French film, ultimately from English film.

• IPA^(key): /fil(i)m/

film (definite accusative filmi, plural filmler)

1. a medium used to capture images in a camera
2. a movie
3. a thin layer

• “film”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu
• Ayverdi, İlhan (2010), “film”, in Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük, a reviewed and expanded single-volume edition, Istanbul: Kubbealtı Neşriyatı

Borrowed from Russian фильм (filʹm), from English film.

film (plural filmlar)

1. film, movie, motion picture

   Synonyms: kino, kinofilm, kartina

• filmoskop
• filmoteka