Start your project

Filipino building terms in English

Bubong in English is roof. Kisame is ceiling, dingding is wall, sahig is floor, haligi is column, biga is beam, and hagdan is stairs. Below are 60 Tagalog building words with their English and what each one is on a house, grouped the way a house goes together, and a drawing that names the parts in place.

The parts of a house, in Tagalog and English

A two-storey house cut through from front to back, with each part numbered. The plans, the permit and most quotations are written in English, and the work on site is talked through in Tagalog, so it helps to know both.

A two-storey house in section with sixteen parts numbered and named in Tagalog and English A section through a two-storey house. Numbered markers point to the roof, the eaves, the fascia board and the gutter at the top; the ceiling hung below the roof; the beam under the upper floor; a column and the wall; a window with its hood and sill; the ground floor; a stair with its railing; the footing under a column; and the doorway. The list under the drawing names each part in Tagalog and in English. 12345678910111213141516
  1. Bubong: the roof. The covering is often yero, corrugated metal sheet.
  2. Sibi: the eaves, where the roof runs past the wall.
  3. Senepa: the fascia board along the roof edge.
  4. Alulod: the gutter.
  5. Kisame: the ceiling, hung below the roof framing.
  6. Biga: a beam, here carrying the upper floor.
  7. Haligi or poste: a column.
  8. Dingding or pader: the wall.
  9. Bintana: a window.
  10. Media agua: the hood over the window.
  11. Pasamano: the window sill.
  12. Sahig: the floor.
  13. Hagdan: the stair. Each step is a baitang.
  14. Barandilya: the railing.
  15. Pundasyon: the foundation, a footing under each column.
  16. Pintuan: the doorway.
An illustrative section, not to any scale and not a drawing of any real house.

Bubong: the roof

Bubong is the roof. The roof forms are usually named in Spanish, counting the slopes that shed the rain.

TagalogEnglishWhat it is
Bubong Roof The whole roof over the house. More
Bubungan Roof, rooftop The roof or the top of it. Often used for the roof as a structure.
Atip Roofing The roof covering, traditionally thatch. Descriptions of the bahay kubo also use it for the ceiling.
Uno aguas Shed or single-slope roof One slope, high on one side. Common on extensions and narrow houses.
Dos aguas Gable roof Two slopes meeting at a ridge, with a triangular wall at each end.
Cuatro aguas Hip roof Four slopes and no gable ends. Also spelled quatro aguas or kwatro aguas. The usual choice where typhoons hit.
Yero Corrugated metal sheet Galvanised corrugated metal sheet, a very common roofing on Philippine houses.
Barakilan Roof beam or rafter The horizontal or sloping timber or steel members that carry the roofing.
Senepa Fascia board The board along the edge of the roof, at the ends of the rafters. The gutter is fixed to it.
Alulod Gutter The channel along the eave that collects rain off the roof.
Sibi Eaves The overhang of the roof past the wall. The bahay kubo carpentry term; the dictionary gives sibi other meanings.
Media agua Window hood or canopy A small sloping roof over a window or door that keeps rain off it.
  • Uno aguas: shed roof, drawn on a simple one-storey houseA small house drawn in three dimensions from the front and one side, with a uno aguas: shed roof. One slope. Common on extensions, narrow lots and modern houses.
    Uno aguas: shed roofOne slope. Common on extensions, narrow lots and modern houses.
  • Dos aguas: gable roof, drawn on a simple one-storey houseA small house drawn in three dimensions from the front and one side, with a dos aguas: gable roof. Two slopes meeting at a ridge, with a triangular wall at each end.
    Dos aguas: gable roofTwo slopes meeting at a ridge, with a triangular wall at each end.
  • Cuatro aguas: hip roof, drawn on a simple one-storey houseA small house drawn in three dimensions from the front and one side, with a cuatro aguas: hip roof. Four slopes and no gable ends. The usual choice where typhoons hit.
    Cuatro aguas: hip roofFour slopes and no gable ends. The usual choice where typhoons hit.
The three roof forms with Spanish names, on the same small house. Illustrative drawings, not of any built house. The roof design guide draws three more.

The roof design guide draws the hip-and-gable, flat deck and clerestory roofs too, and covers pitch, eaves, heat and staying on in a typhoon.

Kisame: the ceiling

Kisame is the ceiling. It has its own guide, with the kinds of ceiling drawn.

TagalogEnglishWhat it is
Kisame Ceiling The finished surface over a room, hung below the roof or the floor above. More
Soleras Joist One of the parallel members that carry a floor or a ceiling.

The kisame guide draws the kinds of ceiling, compares the materials and gives the heights the building code asks for.

Dingding and pader: walls

Tagalog has two everyday words for a wall, and the difference is what it is made of.

TagalogEnglishWhat it is
Dingding Wall A wall in general, and especially a light one of wood, board or woven panels.
Pader Solid wall, concrete wall A masonry or concrete wall, such as a hollow block wall or a boundary wall.
Hollow blocks Concrete hollow blocks (CHB) The usual walling unit for Philippine houses, laid in mortar and plastered.
Ladrilyo Brick Fired clay brick. Older houses and garden walls use it more than new ones.
Palitada Plaster, render The cement finish on a block wall, troweled smooth before painting.

Sahig, haligi and biga: floor and structure

The parts that hold the house up. On the drawings they belong to the structural sheets, signed by a civil engineer.

TagalogEnglishWhat it is
Sahig Floor The floor of a room, whether a concrete slab, timber boards or bamboo slats.
Haligi Column, post, pillar A main vertical support. In a bahay kubo, the house posts the whole house stands on.
Poste Post A post or column, also a light post or signpost.
Biga Beam A horizontal member that carries a floor, a wall or the roof between columns.
Pundasyon Foundation The footings under the columns and walls that spread the load into the ground.
Kabilya Rebar, reinforcing bar The steel bars inside concrete columns, beams, footings and slabs.
Tukod Brace, prop, support A support that holds something up, during construction or for good.
Sepo Connecting block, splice A block of wood used as a connector or joint between two members.
Semento Cement The binder mixed with sand, gravel and water to make concrete or mortar.
Buhangin Sand For mortar, plaster and concrete.
Graba Gravel The coarse stone in concrete.
Silong Space under the house The area beneath a raised floor, used for storage, animals or shade.

Pinto and bintana: doors and windows

The openings in the wall, and the parts around them.

TagalogEnglishWhat it is
Pinto Door The door leaf itself. More
Pintuan Doorway, entrance The opening the door closes, or the entrance as a whole.
Hamba Door or window frame, jamb The frame fixed in the wall that the door or window sits in.
Bisagra Hinge The hinge a door or casement window swings on.
Bintana Window A window of any kind. More
Pasamano Window sill, window ledge The ledge at the bottom of a window opening.
Rehas Bars, grille The bars or grille fixed over a window for security.

Hagdan: stairs and upper floors

Hagdan covers both a stair and a ladder, as the bahay kubo ladder shows.

TagalogEnglishWhat it is
Hagdan Stairs, ladder A stair or a ladder. More
Hagdanan Staircase, stairway The stair as a whole.
Baitang Step, rung One step of a stair, or one rung of a ladder.
Barandilya Railing The rail along a stair, a balcony or an open edge.
Balkonahe Balcony, porch An open floor projecting from an upper storey.
Asotea Roof terrace, balcony An open terrace, often over part of the house.
Beranda Veranda A roofed open space along the side of a house.

Silid: the rooms

The names families use for the rooms on a plan.

TagalogEnglishWhat it is
Sala Living room The main room for sitting and receiving visitors.
Kusina Kitchen The kitchen. A dirty kitchen is a second, often outdoor, kitchen for heavy cooking.
Silid Room A room in general.
Kuwarto Room, bedroom Usually a bedroom.
Banyo Bathroom The bathroom, also called the CR, the comfort room. More
Palikuran Toilet The toilet or restroom.
Lababo Sink A kitchen sink or a wash basin.
Poso negro Septic tank The tank that takes the waste from the toilets where there is no sewer. More

The parts of a bahay kubo

Traditional carpentry words for the nipa house, from the account of its construction saved with the site's sources.

TagalogEnglishWhat it is
Bulwagan Main room The single main room of the house. More
Batalan Wash area The open area at the back for washing, bathing and water jars.
Binaon and pinatong Buried and set posts Two kinds of haligi: binaon are buried in the ground, pinatong stand on stones.
Yawi Tie beams The horizontal beams that join the haligi.
Patukuran Secondary beams The beams laid over the yawi that carry the joists.
Gililan Perimeter beams The beams around the edge of the house that the walls are tied to.
Pasibi Roof extension A long sloping section of roof extending past the sibi, often over a porch.

The bahay kubo drawing guide shows these parts in a section, and the modern bahay kubo guide shows how they change in a house built today.

Using these words with a plan

A house plan labels its parts in English, and the symbols on it are drawn in a shared shorthand. The guide to reading a house plan explains each sheet, and the floor plan symbols legend draws every mark, with bintana, sliding pinto and hagdan each drawn in detail.

Words differ between regions and between trades, and a foreman may use a word this list does not have. When a word on site and a word on the plan seem to mean different things, ask which part of the drawing is meant before anything is built.

Our custom house design service draws the plans in English and goes through them with the family and the builder in the language they use on site.

Building and want it explained in both languages?

Arktektura designs houses from the lot up and talks the plans through with families and their builders, across Pampanga, Bulacan, Bataan, Tarlac and Olongapo.

Start your project See how the process runs
Ask a question

Ask a question

Tell us what you are thinking about and a person will explain what a project like it involves. For a quote, use the enquiry form.