Other forms: pails
A pail is a round, open container with a handle. At the beach, you can use a pail to carry water and sand, and also to mold the towers of your sandcastle.
You can also call a pail a bucket — although pail implies a smaller container, exactly the sort a child would use, along with a small shovel, when playing in a sandbox. You might also use a pail to catch drips from a leaky ceiling, or pour a small amount of paint into a pail when you're touching up the trim in your bedroom. This word comes from the Old French paelle, "cooking or frying pan."