Lines

How to spell lines

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce lines

What does lines mean?

1. nounMore than one line: marks, rows, cords, or routes drawn or arranged in length.
2. verbForms a covering or border along the inside or edge of something (third-person singular).

Lines in a sentence

• noun

  The form had several blank lines for the address.

• verb

  A thick wool layer lines the inside of the coat.

• noun

  Faint pencil lines guided the layout of the poster.

• verb

  A row of oak trees lines the long driveway.

Where does lines come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The singular line behind this word has a tangled double origin, both strands tracing back to Latin linea, meaning 'a linen thread' and by extension 'a string or cord stretched out straight'; linea itself came from linum, the Latin word for flax or linen. Old English borrowed an early form as line, meaning a cord or rope, while Old French independently passed along its own descendant ligne during the Middle Ages, and the two merged into the modern English word. From the literal stretched thread the meaning broadened to a drawn mark, a row of written words, a boundary, and a transport route. The plural lines simply adds the regular English -s ending, and the same -s also forms the present-tense verb, as in 'she lines the shelf'. Because the spelling is so regular, the only thing to remember is the silent final e of line surviving before the s.

How the word is built

• line (cord, mark, row)
• -s (plural / third-person singular suffix)