Line

How to spell line

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce line

What does line mean?

1. nounA long narrow mark, stroke, or a row of things arranged in a straight sequence.
2. verbTo cover the inner surface of something with a layer of another material.
3. nounA telephone or data connection between two points.

Line in a sentence

• noun

  She drew a straight line across the page with a ruler.

• verb

  They decided to line the old jacket with soft wool for the winter.

• noun

  The phone line was so poor that the call kept dropping.

• noun

  Each player stood behind the white line on the court.

• verb

  Workers will line the tunnel walls with concrete before opening it.

• noun

  The company installed a dedicated line for the support desk.

Where does line come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin linea, which literally meant a string or thread made of flax, since linea derived from linum, the Latin name for flax and the linen cloth woven from it. A builder's or surveyor's straight reference was made by stretching such a thread taut, so linea came to mean a straight mark or boundary as well as the physical cord. The word reached English by two routes that later blended: the native Old English line, borrowed early from Latin, and the Old French ligne, taken from the same Latin source. Because flax thread sat at the heart of the original meaning, the words 'linen' and 'lining' are close relatives, and the sense of covering the inside of a garment grew from layering cloth there. The spelling stayed short and regular, which is why most adults find it untroubling; the silent final 'e' simply marks the long vowel.

How the word is built

• line (a single root from Latin linea, a linen thread); no separable prefix or suffix