Ties

How to spell ties

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce ties

What does ties mean?

1. nounBonds or connections that link people, groups, or organisations.
2. nounStrips of fabric worn knotted around the neck, usually with a collared shirt.
3. verbFastens or binds something with a cord, lace, or knot (third-person singular).
4. nounContests that end with both sides level on score.

Ties in a sentence

• noun

  The firm has strong ties with several overseas suppliers.

• noun

  He keeps his silk ties folded neatly in the top drawer.

• verb

  She always ties her hair back before the morning run.

• noun

  The league counts ties as a single point for each team.

• noun

  Moving abroad weakened her ties to the old neighbourhood.

• noun

  The shop sells matching shirts and ties for weddings.

Where does ties come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends from the Old English noun teah or teag, meaning a cord, band, or rope used for binding, together with the related verb tigan, 'to bind or fasten'. The root belongs to the wider Germanic family of words for tugging and tethering, and it is a close cousin of 'tow' and 'tug', all sharing the idea of pulling something tight with a line. Over the centuries the literal sense of a binding cord broadened into the figurative one of bonds between people, so that family and business 'ties' came to mean the connections that hold relationships together. The clothing sense, the strip of fabric knotted at the neck, arrived only in the 1700s, named simply for the act of tying it. The plural and verb form add a plain -s; because the base ends in a vowel sound the spelling keeps the silent final 'e' of 'tie', which is the small detail writers occasionally trip over.

How the word is built

• tie (from Old English teah/teag: a cord or rope)
• -s (plural noun or third-person singular verb ending)