Tier

How to spell tier

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce tier

What does tier mean?

1. nounOne of a series of rows, levels, or ranks arranged one above or after another.

Tier in a sentence

• The bottom tier of the wedding cake was the largest.

• Premium subscribers sit in a higher pricing tier than free users.

Where does tier come from?

Language of origin: French

This word arrived in English in the 1500s from the Old French tire, which meant 'order, rank, sequence, or row'. The French noun was tied to the verb tirer, meaning 'to draw out or arrange in a line', so a tier was originally simply things set out one after another in an orderly row. From that idea of a single row it came to mean any one of a series of levels stacked above each other, as in the tiers of seats in a theatre or the layers of a wedding cake. The modern figurative use, a tier of management or a pricing tier, keeps exactly that sense of stacked ranks. The spelling trap is real: tier sounds identical to the teardrop 'tear', yet keeps the 'tie' opening that recalls its French root, so picture a 'tie' holding each level in place.

How the word is built

• tier (a row or rank, from Old French tire 'order, sequence')

Words that sound like tier

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

• tear: A drop of salty liquid that forms in or falls from the eye, often through crying.