Ledge

How to spell ledge

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce ledge

What does ledge mean?

1. nounA narrow horizontal surface or shelf that projects from a wall, cliff, or other vertical face.

Ledge in a sentence

• She left the potted herbs on the kitchen window ledge.

• The climbers paused on a rocky ledge to catch their breath.

Where does ledge come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Ledge comes from Middle English 'legge', which named a horizontal bar or strip such as one fixed across a door or set into a frame. Its earlier history is genuinely murky, but it is generally thought to belong to the same Germanic family as the verb 'lay', the idea being something laid flat or placed across a gap. From the sense of a flat strip the word broadened to mean any narrow shelf-like projection, whether built into a wall or jutting naturally from a cliff. The modern spelling reflects a common English habit: the /j/ sound after a short stressed vowel is written 'dge', which is why the word ends in a silent 'e' rather than simply 'lej'. Because its roots are obscure, scholars treat the precise source as uncertain rather than firmly established.

How the word is built

• ledg- (narrow shelf or strip)
• -e (silent final e after the 'dge' spelling of the /j/ sound)