From Old French 'cieler' (to conceal), from Latin 'celare' (to hide) — a ceiling is literally 'a concealment.'
The upper interior surface of a room; an upper limit set on something.
From Middle English celing (the act of paneling a room), from the verb celen (to furnish with a ceiling, to panel), probably from Old French cieler (to conceal, to furnish with a canopy), from Latin celare (to hide, to conceal), from PIE *kel- (to conceal, to cover). A ceiling was originally the wooden paneling that concealed the rafters and roof structure — literally a concealment. The same PIE root *kel- produced colour (that which covers
A 'ceiling' is etymologically a concealment — wooden panels that hid the ugly rafters above. The same PIE root *ḱel- (to hide) gave us 'conceal,' 'cell,' 'cellar,' 'clandestine' (done in hiding), and 'helmet' (which conceals the head, from Proto-Germanic '*helmaz'). The figurative 'glass ceiling' — an invisible barrier to advancement — was coined