Linear

How to spell linear

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce linear

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does linear mean?

1. adjectiveArranged in or relating to a straight line, or progressing in a single continuous sequence.
2. adjectiveIn mathematics, involving variables of the first degree, so that a graph of the relationship is a straight line.

Linear in a sentence

• The museum guide led us through the exhibits in a strict linear order.

• The students plotted the linear equation and confirmed it produced a straight line.

• The report follows a linear structure, moving step by step from problem to solution.

• The spreadsheet assumed a linear relationship between hours worked and total pay.

Where does linear come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin linearis, meaning 'belonging to a line', which was formed from linea, the Latin word for a line, string, or thread. Linea in turn grew out of linum, meaning 'flax' or 'thread', because the earliest lines people stretched and measured were literally cords of flax fibre. English took the word in during the seventeenth century, first in technical and mathematical writing where it described things arranged along a straight path. The same linum root also gives us 'line', 'lining', and even 'linen', the cloth woven from flax, so the family tree is unusually easy to picture. For spelling, it helps to remember the plain word 'line' sitting at the front, with the ending built simply as -ear rather than the -er that some writers expect.

How the word is built

• line- (from Latin linea: line, thread)
• -ar (adjective suffix: relating to)