Middle English, from Old English fēol; akin to Old High German fīla file
Verb (2)
Middle English, from Old English fȳlan, from fūl foul
Verb (3) and Noun (2)
Middle English, from Medieval Latin filare to string documents on a string or wire, from filum file of documents, literally, thread, from Latin; akin to Armenian ǰil sinew
Noun (3) and Verb (4)
Middle French, from filer to spin, draw out, from Late Latin filare, from Latin filum
Noun (4)
Louisiana French, from French, past participle of filer to twist, spin
First Known Use
Noun (1)
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1