Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “lie” come from?

Lie comes from Middle English lie, from Middle French lien, from Latin ligō meaning to bind or tie.

lie (English): To rest in a horizontal position on a surface; To...

Definitions

  1. To rest in a horizontal position on a surface; To...

Ancestry of “lie”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishlie—
2Old Englishlyġelie, falsehood
3Proto-West Germanic*lugi—
4Proto-Germaniclugizlie, falsehood
5Proto-Indo-Europeanlewgʰ-to lie, to tell falsehood

Words derived from “lie”

  • lying
  • lain
  • outlying
  • overlying
  • outlier
  • overlain
  • liest
  • overlie
  • lyingly
  • inlying
  • outlie
  • unlying
  • uplying
  • outlierness
  • downlying
  • outlyingness
  • nonoutlier
  • nonlying
  • nonoutlying
  • forelie
  • superlie
  • ライ
  • lai
Every word from Proto-Indo-European lewgʰ- →