Nonlinear

How to spell nonlinear

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce nonlinear

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does nonlinear mean?

1. adjectiveNot arranged in a straight line, or not following a simple proportional relationship.

Nonlinear in a sentence

• The film uses a nonlinear structure that jumps between past and present.

• The engineers modelled the nonlinear relationship between speed and fuel use.

Where does nonlinear come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is a modern compound built from older parts. The base word 'linear' comes from the Latin linearis, meaning 'belonging to a line', which was formed on linea, 'a string, thread, or line', itself derived from linum, the Latin word for flax or linen (the plant whose fibres were twisted into the cords that made early lines). English took 'linear' in the seventeenth century to describe anything arranged in or relating to a straight line. The prefix 'non-' is the plain Latin negative meaning 'not', and attaching it produced 'nonlinear', meaning simply 'not in a straight line'. The term rose to prominence in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in mathematics, science, and engineering, where it describes relationships that do not plot as a straight line or processes that do not follow in simple proportion. Knowing that 'line' sits inside the word, with no doubled letters and no hyphen in the standard form, is the easiest way to keep the spelling straight.

How the word is built

• non- (not)
• line (from Latin linea: a line)
• -ar (adjective suffix: relating to)