Definition, synonyms and related words
plural of pill
"She swallowed her morning pills with a glass of water before heading to work."
In plain English: Pills are small, round pieces of medicine that you swallow to make you feel better.
"She took her morning pills with a glass of water."
Usage: Use "pills" to refer specifically to small, round pieces of medicine or candy taken by mouth. Do not use this term for loose tablets that have been crushed or broken apart unless referring to the fragments themselves.
Third-person singular simple present indicative form of pill
"She likes to take a single pill every morning, but he finds it hard to swallow even one."
In plain English: To pill something means to break it into small pieces, though this usage is very rare and mostly found in old texts or specific technical contexts.
"Don't worry about those pills; they'll go away in a few days."
Usage: Do not use "pills" to mean taking medication; that is a common misspelling of the verb "pill." The correct third-person singular form for swallowing medicine is "he pills," though in everyday speech people often say "he takes pills" using the noun.
Derived from Old French pil, pills originally meant small balls or pellets, referring to their physical shape rather than any medicinal property. The term entered English in the mid-14th century before becoming specifically associated with medicine by the 16th century.