different between pill vs capsule

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?l/, [p???]
• Rhymes: -?l

Etymology 1

• From Middle English pille (also pillem), a borrowing from Middle Low German pille or Middle Dutch pille (whence Dutch pil), probably from Latin pila, pilula.
• (persuade or convince): Generalized from red pill.

Noun

pill (plural pills)

1. A small, usually round or cylindrical object designed for easy swallowing, usually containing some sort of medication.
   • 1864, Benjamin Ellis, The Medical Formulary [1]

     Take two pills every hour in the apyrexia of intermittent fever, until eight are taken.

3. (informal, uncountable, definite, i.e. used with "the") Contraceptive medication, usually in the form of a pill to be taken by a woman; an oral contraceptive pill.
   • 1986, Jurriaan Plesman, Getting Off the Hook: Treatment of Drug Addiction and Social Disorders Through Body and Mind:

     Many specialists are requesting that this vitamin be included in all contraceptive pills, as women on the pill have a tendency to be depressed.

4. Something offensive, unpleasant or nauseous which must be accepted or endured.
   • 1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part I, III [Uniform ed., p. 45]:

     "It's a sad unpalatable truth," said Mr. Pembroke, thinking that the despondency might be personal, "but one must accept it. My sister and Gerald, I am thankful to say, have accepted it, so naturally it has been a little pill."

5. (slang) A contemptible, annoying, or unpleasant person.
   • 2000, Susan Isaacs, Shining Through [2]

     Instead, I saw a woman in her mid-fifties, who was a real pill; while all the others had managed a decent “So pleased,” or even a plain “Hello,” Ginger just inclined her head, as if she was doing a Queen Mary imitation.

6. (slang) A comical or entertaining person.
7. (informal) A small piece of any substance, for example a ball of fibres formed on the surface of a textile by rubbing.
   • 1999, Wally Lamb, I Know This Much Is True [3]

     One sleeve, threadbare and loaded with what my mother called “sweater pills,” hung halfway to the floor.

8. (archaic, baseball slang) A baseball.
   • 1931, Canadian National Magazine

     "Strike two!" bawled the umpire. I threw the pill back to Tom with a heart which drummed above the noise of the rooters along the side lines.

   • 2002, John Klima, Pitched Battle: 35 of Baseball's Greatest Duels from the Mound [4]

     Mr. Fisher contributed to the Sox effort when he threw the pill past second baseman Rath after Felsch hit him a comebacker.

9. (firearms, slang) A bullet (projectile).
10. (graphical user interface) A rounded rectangle indicating the tag or category that an item belongs to.

Synonyms

• (small object for swallowing): tablet
• (bullet): cap

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

pill (third-person singular simple present pills, present participle pilling, simple past and past participle pilled)

1. (intransitive, textiles) Of a woven fabric surface, to form small matted balls of fiber.
   • 1997, Jo Sharp, Knitted Sweater Style: Inspirations in Color [5]

     During processing, inferior short fibers (which can cause pilling and itching) are removed to enhance the natural softness of the yarn and to improve its wash-and-wear performance.

2. To form into the shape of a pill.

   Pilling is a skill rarely used by modern pharmacists.

3. (transitive) To medicate with pills.

   She pills herself with all sorts of herbal medicines.

4. (transitive, Internet slang) To persuade or convince someone of something.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Latin pil? (“depilate”), from pilus (“hair”). Doublet of peel.

Verb

pill (third-person singular simple present pills, present participle pilling, simple past and past participle pilled)

1. (obsolete) To peel; to remove the outer layer of hair, skin, or bark.
2. To peel; to make by removing the skin.

   • [Jacob] pilled white streaks […] in the rods.

3. To be peeled; to peel off in flakes.
4. (obsolete) To pillage; to despoil or impoverish.

Noun

pill (plural pills)

1. (obsolete) The peel or skin.

   • Some be covered with crusts or hard pills, as the locust

   • 1682, A perfect school of Instructions for the Officers of the Mouth

     To make Sallet of Lemon pill, or green Citron. You must have your Lemon Pill preserved very green, Rasp it into a Dish, and raise it up lightly with a Fork […]

Etymology 3

From Middle English *pill, *pyll, from Old English pyll (“a pool, pill”), from Proto-Germanic *pullijaz (“small pool, ditch, creek”), diminutive of Proto-Germanic *pullaz (“pool, stream”), from Proto-Indo-European *bl?nos (“bog, marsh”). Cognate with Old English pull (“pool, creek”), Scots poll (“slow moving stream, creek, inlet”), Icelandic pollur (“pond, pool, puddle”). More at pool.

Noun

pill (plural pills)

1. (now Britain regional) An inlet on the coast; a small tidal pool or bay.

Albanian

Etymology

A form of pidh from Proto-Albanian *pizda, from Proto-Indo-European *písdeh? (“pudenda”). Cognate to Lithuanian pyzdà (“pudenda”) and Russian ????? (pizda, “pudenda”)

Noun

pill

1. vagina
2. cunt (vulgar)

Synonyms

• pidh

Estonian

Etymology 1

Noun

pill (genitive pilli, partitive pilli)

1. (music) instrument

Declension

Synonyms

• muusikariist

Etymology 2

Noun

pill (genitive pilli, partitive pilli)

1. (medicine) pill

Declension

Synonyms

• tablett

Scottish Gaelic

Noun

pill m

1. genitive singular of peall

Mutation

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French capsule, from Latin capsula, diminutive of capsa (“box”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?kæps(?)l/
• (UK, General Australian) IPA^(key): /?kæpsju?l/, /?kæp?u?l/

Noun

capsule (plural capsules)

1. (physiology) A membranous envelope.
2. (botany) A type of simple, dehiscent, dry fruit (seed-case) produced by many species of flowering plants, such as poppy, lily, orchid, willow and cotton.
3. (botany) A sporangium, especially in bryophytes.
4. (anatomy) A tough, fibrous layer surrounding an organ such as the kidney or liver
5. (anatomy) A membrane that surrounds the eyeball
6. (astronautics) A detachable part of a rocket or spacecraft (usually in the nose) containing the crew's living space.
7. (pharmacy) A small container containing a dose of medicine.
8. (attributively, figuratively) in a brief, condensed or compact form
   • 1962, John F. Kennedy, We choose to go to the moon:

     If this capsule history of our progress teaches us anything, it is that man, in his quest for knowledge and progress, is determined and cannot be deterred.

9. (winemaking) The covering — formerly lead or tin, now often plastic — over the cork at the top of the wine bottle.
10. (chemistry, dated) A small clay saucer for roasting or melting samples of ores, etc.; a scorifier.
11. A small, shallow evaporating dish, usually of porcelain.
12. A small cup or shell, often of metal, for a percussion cap, cartridge, etc.

Derived terms

• capsular
• capsule review
• capsulize
• Glissonian capsule

Translations

Verb

capsule (third-person singular simple present capsules, present participle capsuling, simple past and past participle capsuled)

1. (transitive) To form (medicine, etc.) into capsules.
2. (transitive) To encapsulate or summarize.

Anagrams

• laces up, scale up, scaleup, specula, upscale

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French capsule, from Latin capsula.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?p?sy.l?/
• Hyphenation: cap?su?le
• Rhymes: -yl?

Noun

capsule f (plural capsules, diminutive capsuletje n)

1. (medicine, pharmacy) encapsulation containing drugs or supplements
2. cover over the cork and opening of a bottle

Related terms

• kapsel

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin capsula, diminutive of capsa (whence caisse).

Pronunciation

Noun

capsule f (plural capsules)

1. capsule
2. bottle cap
3. cap or primer for a gun

Derived terms

• capsulaire
• capsule temporelle
• décapsuler
• encapsuler

Further reading

• “capsule” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• spécula

Italian

Noun

capsule f

1. plural of capsula

Anagrams

• lupesca
• specula

Spanish

Verb

capsule

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of capsular.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of capsular.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of capsular.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of capsular.