Tied

How to spell tied

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce tied

What does tied mean?

1. verbPast tense of 'tie': fastened or secured something with a cord, string, or knot.
2. verbPast tense of 'tie': finished a contest with the same score as an opponent.

Tied in a sentence

• She tied the parcel with brown string before posting it.

• The two teams tied at the end of regulation play.

• He tied his shoelaces tightly before the long run.

• Both candidates tied in the first round of voting.

Where does tied come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the past tense of the verb 'tie', which descends from the Old English verb 'tigan', meaning 'to bind or fasten with a cord'. That in turn rests on the noun 'teag', meaning a rope, cord, or fetter, from a Germanic root linked to ideas of drawing together and binding. For centuries the spelling wavered, and forms such as 'tye' and 'teye' appear in older texts before the modern 'tie' settled in. The past tense follows the regular pattern of dropping the silent final 'e' and adding '-ed', which leaves the trap: it sounds exactly like 'tide', the rise and fall of the sea, even though the two words are wholly unrelated in origin.

How the word is built

• tie (to fasten or bind)
• -ed (past tense/past participle suffix)

Words that sound like tied

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

• tide: The regular rise and fall of the sea caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun.