Links

How to spell links

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce links

What does links mean?

1. nounMore than one connection, joining piece, or clickable web reference.
2. verbJoins or connects one thing to another (third-person singular).
3. nounA golf course, especially one laid out on sandy coastal ground.

Links in a sentence

• noun

  The report includes several links to the original data sources.

• verb

  The new bridge links the two halves of the city.

• noun

  The championship is being played on a windswept seaside links in Scotland.

• noun

  Strong family links kept the relatives in touch across three countries.

• verb

  A single cable links the printer to the office network.

• noun

  The old links near the dunes drains well even after heavy rain.

Where does links come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

This word traces back to the Old Norse 'hlekkr', meaning a ring or a loop of a chain, which entered northern English speech during the Viking settlements and surfaced in Middle English as 'linke'. The original sense was very physical: a single ring of metal joined to others to form a chain, and from that came the idea of anything that joins two things together. By the 1600s the word had stretched into the figurative 'connection between people or ideas', and in the late twentieth century it was the obvious choice for the clickable 'hyperlink' of the web. The golfing 'links' is a separate thread: it comes from the Old English 'hlinc', meaning a ridge or rising ground, and was applied to the rolling, sandy coastal land where Scottish golf was first played. Because both threads end in the same spelling, and because 'links' sounds identical to the wild cat 'lynx', the plain -nks ending is the spot where writers slip.

How the word is built

• link (a connection or ring)
• -s (plural / third-person singular marker)

Words that sound like links

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• lynx: A wild cat with a short tail, tufted ears, and keen eyesight, native to northern forests.