apilar

Apilar is a Spanish verb that denotes the action of placing objects in a vertical arrangement, one on top of another, or more generally of piling up items to form a stack. It can refer to physical objects as well as to abstract collections of data or elements. In everyday use, people describe stacking boxes, books, or blocks, and in technical contexts it can describe accumulating items or tasks.

Etymology and form: Apilar derives from the noun pila, meaning pile or stack, with the -ar verb suffix. It is a regular -ar verb, so its conjugation follows the standard pattern for this class. For example in the present indicative: yo apilo, tú apilas, él apila, nosotros apilamos, vosotros apiláis, ellos apilan. Other tenses and moods follow the typical -ar paradigm, such as apilé, apilaste, apiló in the preterite, and apile, apiles, apile, apilemos, apiléis, apilen in the present subjunctive.

Usage and variants: The reflexive form apilarse means to pile up by itself or to accumulate, often with a sense of growing motivation or crowding. Related nouns include apilamiento (the act of stacking or the resulting pile) and apilador (a device or person that stacks items). The adjective apilable describes something that can be stacked. In computing, apilar is frequently used to describe the operation of pushing elements onto a stack data structure, as in “apilar una entrada” or “las llamadas se apilan en la pila.”

See also: pila, apilamiento, apilable, apilador, apilarse.