Lie

How to spell lie

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce lie

What does lie mean?

1. verbTo be or place oneself in a flat, horizontal, resting position.
2. nounA statement that the speaker knows to be untrue, made with intent to deceive.
3. verbTo say something untrue on purpose in order to mislead someone.

Lie in a sentence

• verb

  After the long shift she likes to lie flat on the sofa.

• noun

  The auditor exposed a deliberate lie in the expense report.

• verb

  He would never lie to his own children about money.

• verb

  The doctor asked him to lie still on the table during the scan.

• noun

  Telling a small lie about his age cost him the job offer.

• verb

  Witnesses who lie under oath face serious charges.

Where does lie come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This single modern spelling actually carries two separate Old English ancestors that happen to have collapsed into the same three letters. The 'recline' meaning descends from the Old English verb licgan, meaning 'to be at rest in a horizontal position', which is related to the Germanic root that also gave us 'lay', 'low', and even 'litter' (in the sense of a bed). The 'falsehood' meaning comes from a completely different word, the Old English lyge, meaning a deliberate untruth, paired with the verb leogan, 'to deceive'. Both words are firmly Germanic and existed in English long before the Norman Conquest, which is why they feel so plain and short. The persistent confusion between 'lie' and 'lay' comes precisely from that shared ancient Germanic family, since 'lay' was once the causative form meaning 'to make something lie down'. Note too that 'lie' is a homophone of 'lye', the caustic cleaning substance, though that word traces back to a separate root for washing.

How the word is built

• Two distinct roots converge on one spelling: the 'recline' sense is from Old English licgan (to be situated), and the 'untruth' sense is from Old English lyge (falsehood); no prefix or suffix, a bare root word