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in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology 1
Borrowed from Middle French lien, from Latin ligāmen (“a bond”), from ligō (“tie, bind”).
Pronunciation
Noun
lien (plural liens)
- (obsolete) A tendon.
- (law) A right to take possession of a debtor’s property as security until a debt or duty is discharged.
1989, Greil Marcus, Lipstick Traces, Faber & Faber, published 2009:[…] every youth movement presents itself as loan to the future, and tries to call in its lien in advance, but when there is no future all loans are canceled.
2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 7:Bodin deemed the king of France's power as absolute in the sense that the ruler was ‘absolved’ by divine sanction from legally binding liens and restrictions.
Derived terms
Translations
right to take and hold debtor’s property
Translations to be checked
Etymology 2
Pronunciation
Verb
lien
- (biblical, archaic) Alternative form of lain
1611, The Holy Bible, (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Numbers 5:19:And the Priest shall charge her by an othe, and say vnto the woman, If no man haue lyen with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to vncleannesse with another in stead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse.
Etymology 3
Borrowed from Latin liēn (“spleen”). Doublet of spleen.
Pronunciation
Noun
lien (plural lienes)
- (uncommon, possibly obsolete) The spleen.
- Synonym: milt
1892, John Marie Keating, Henry Hamilton, John Chalmers Da Costa, A New Pronouncing Dictionary of Medicine:Li'enal. Pertaining to the lien or spleen; splenic.
- 1914, Quain's Elements of Anatomy, volume 1, page 312:
- The lien or spleen (figs. 282 to 285) is a soft, highly vascular contractile and very elastic organ of a dark purplish colour. It is placed obliquely behind the stomach,
Further reading
Anagrams
Cornish
Etymology
From Middle Cornish lyen, from Proto-Brythonic *lleɣenn, from Latin legendum.
Pronunciation
Noun
lien m (plural liennow)
- literature
French
Etymology
Inherited from Middle French lien, from Old French lien, liem, from Latin ligāmen (“bond”), from ligō.
Pronunciation
Noun
lien m (plural liens)
- link
Derived terms
Further reading
Latin
Etymology
From Proto-Indo-European, reflecting a form *(s)li(ǵʰ)-ēn-, from the root *spelǵʰ- (“spleen”), heavily distorted in all of its descendants, likely for tabooistic reasons,[1] making the exact original PIE form hard to pin down. The newly introduced -i- is seemingly also found in the Sanskrit cognate प्लीहन् (plīhán), the fall of *-h- < *-ǵʰ- is also observed in Ancient Greek σπλήν (splḗn),[2] while the loss of *-p- is also visible in Proto-Slavic *selzenь.
Other cognates include Middle Irish selg, Lithuanian blužnis, Old Armenian փայծաղն (pʻaycałn), Avestan 𐬯𐬞𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬰𐬀𐬥- (spərəzan-). Doublet of splēn.
Pronunciation
Noun
liēn m (genitive liēnis); third declension
- spleen
Declension
Third-declension noun.
Descendants
References
- ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “liēn, -ēnis”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 340
- ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “σπλήν, σπληνός”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1385
Further reading
- “lien”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- lien in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Latvian
Verb
lien
- inflection of līst:
- second/third-person singular present indicative
- third-person plural present indicative
- second-person singular imperative
- (with the particle lai) third-person singular imperative of līst
- (with the particle lai) third-person plural imperative of līst
Livonian
Etymology
Derived from Proto-Finnic *laihna, from a Germanic borrowing. Related to Finnish lainata. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.
Verb
lien
- (Salaca) give a loan
Middle Dutch
Etymology 1
From Old Dutch *līan, from Proto-Germanic .
Verb
liën
- (transitive) to admit
- (transitive) to acknowledge, to be convinced
- (transitive) to declare
- (intransitive) to assent
Inflection
This verb needs an inflection-table template.
Etymology 2
From Old Dutch līan, from Proto-West Germanic *līhwan, from Proto-Germanic *līhwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ-.
Verb
liën
- (eastern) to lend
Inflection
This verb needs an inflection-table template.
Further reading
- “liën (II)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
- Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “liën (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page liën
- Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “liën (II)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page liën
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old English liċġan, from Proto-West Germanic *liggjan, from Proto-Germanic *ligjaną.
- lie, li, lin, ligh, liȝ, liȝe, liȝen, lig, lige, ligen, liken, likken, liȝȝe, ligge, liggen, luggen
- licgen, liȝge (Early Middle English)
Verb
lien (third-person singular simple present lith, present participle liende, first-/third-person singular past indicative leie, past participle leien)
- to lie (be in a horizontal position)
c. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, lines 19–20:Bifil that in that seson, on a day, / In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay- It happened that, in that season, on a day / In Southwark, at the Tabard, as I lay
Descendants
References
Etymology 2
From Old English lēogan, from Proto-West Germanic *leugan, from Proto-Germanic *leuganą.
Verb
lien (third-person singular simple present lieth, present participle liende, first-/third-person singular past indicative legh, past participle louen)
- to lie (tell a falsehood)
- li, lie, lin, lighe, lighen, lige, ligen, liȝe, liȝen, liegh, lieȝe, lieȝen, le, lei, leie, leghen, legen, leȝe, leȝen, leiȝe, leiȝen
- lih, lihe, lihen, leȝen, leoȝen, leioȝen, luȝen (Early Middle English)
Descendants
References
Etymology 3
From Old French lier, liier (“to tie up, connect”), from Latin ligāre (“to tie, bind”).
Verb
lien (third-person singular simple present lieth, present participle liende, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle liid) (cooking)
- to thicken (a soup, etc.) by mixing
- to bind (ground meat, etc. with eggs, sauce, etc.)
- to coat (something with sauce, etc.)
Descendants
References
Etymology 4
From Middle French lien (“tie, strap”), from Latin ligāmen (“bandage, band, tie”).
Noun
lien (plural liens)
- bond, fetter
Descendants
References
Etymology 5
Noun
lien (plural liens)
- Alternative form of len
Middle French
Etymology
From Old French lien.
Noun
lien m (plural liens)
- tie (object used to bind or tie); strap
- (by extension) link (association)
Descendants
Old French
- lïen (diareses not universally used in transcriptions of Old French)
Etymology
From Latin ligāmen.
Noun
lien oblique singular, m (oblique plural liens, nominative singular liens, nominative plural lien)
- tie; strap
late 12th century, anonymous author, “La Folie de Tristan d'Oxford”, in Le Roman de Tristan, Champion Classiques edition, →ISBN, page 408, lines 901–2:Brenguain, ore alez pur le chen,
amenez k'od tut le lïen- Brangain, go get the dog,
bring it with its leash
Descendants
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin liēn. Doublet of spleen and splină.
Noun
lien n (plural lienuri)
- spleen
- Synonym: splină
Declension
Swedish
Noun
lien
- definite singular of lie
Anagrams