A tile is a manufactured piece of hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, or even glass. Tiles are generally used for covering roofs, floors, walls, showers, or other objects such as tabletops. Alternatively, tile can sometimes refer to similar units made from lightweight materials such as perlite, wood, and mineral wool, typically used for wall and ceiling applications. Less precisely, the modern term can refer to any sort of construction tile or similar object, such as rectangular counters used in playing games (see tile-based game). The word is derived from the French word tuile, which is, in turn, from the Latin word tegula, meaning a roof tile composed of fired clay. Tiles are often used to form wall and floor coverings, and can range from simple square tiles to complex mosaics. Tiles are most often made from porcelain, fired clay or ceramic with a hard glaze, but other materials are also commonly used, such as glass, metal, cork, and stone. Tiling stone is typically marble, onyx, granite or slate. Thinner tiles can be used on walls than on floors, which require thicker, more durable surfaces.

Noun

tile (plural tiles)

1. A regularly-shaped slab of clay or other material, affixed to cover or decorate a surface, as in a roof-tile, glazed tile, stove tile, etc.
2. (computing) A rectangular graphic.

   Each tile within Google Maps consists of 256 × 256 pixels.

   Sprites and tiles that are hidden in the prototype ROM file can be recovered.

3. Any of various types of cuboid playing piece used in certain games, such as in dominoes, Scrabble, mahjong, or Rummikub.

• glazed tile
• out on the tiles
• tilework

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• London Mosaic Restoration
  londonmosaicrestoration.co.uk
  Restoration and sale of mosaic and geometric flooring tiles.
• LuxeTile
  luxetile.com
  Providing flooring tiles and backsplash options for kitchen and bathrooms, including stone, glass, ceramic and pebblestone.
• Monticello Tile Design
  mtiledesign.com
  Decorative natural stone marble and granite tile floor medallions for any type of flooring project.