foil

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a piece of thin and flexible sheet metal
  2. noun anything that serves by contrast to call attention to another thing's good qualities
  3. noun a device consisting of a flat or curved piece (as a metal plate) so that its surface reacts to the water it is passing through

Etymology

From Middle English foyle, from Middle French fueille, from Old French fueille (“plant leaf”), from Late Latin folia, the plural of folium, mistaken as a singular feminine. The literary sense is from the practice of backing a gem with metal foil to make it shine more brilliantly. Doublet of folio and folium, distantly also with phyllo and phyllon.

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