Meaning & use
skirting boards
Last updated
Meaning
nounpluralBritish
Narrow wooden or plastic boards fixed along the bottom of a wall where it meets the floor.
Grammar: Usually plural: 'the skirting boards'. A single piece can be called 'a skirting board'.
Patterns
- paint the skirting boards
- fix skirting boards
- along the skirting boards
We painted the skirting boards white to match the doors.
The skirting boards in the old house were made of dark wood.
He ran the cable along the skirting boards so it was hidden.
Word forms
| singular | skirting board |
|---|
Common combinations
- paint the skirting boards
- They spent the weekend painting the skirting boards.
- wooden skirting boards
- The room had wide wooden skirting boards.
- fix skirting boards
- The carpenter will fix the skirting boards tomorrow.
- behind the skirting boards
- The mouse disappeared behind the skirting boards.
Synonyms and how they differ
- baseboards
- The American word for the same thing; use 'baseboards' in US English and 'skirting boards' in British English.
Word family
- skirt verb
- To go around the edge of something; related in the idea of an edge.
Commonly confused: skirting boards or baseboards? skirting boards or floorboards?
skirting boards vs baseboards
The US term for skirting boards. They mean the same thing, but the choice depends on whether you are using British or American English.
skirting boards vs floorboards
The boards that make up the floor itself, not the boards along the wall.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'skirting boards' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Skirting boards are along the bottom of a wall, so option 0 is correct. Option 1 is wrong because 'one in each room' does not fit the plural; options 2 and 3 put them in the wrong place.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “skirting boards”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.