# layer

> English word · Noun · IPA /lɛə/ · frequency rank #3,635

## Definitions
1. A single thickness of some material covering a surface.
2. A single thickness of some material covering a surface.
3. A (usually) horizontal deposit; a stratum.
4. One of the items in a hierarchy.
5. One in a stack of (initially transparent) drawing surfaces that comprise an image; used to keep elements of an image separate so that they can be modified independently from one another.
6. One of the seven network switch pieces in the Open Systems Interconnection model: application, presentation, session, transport, network, data link, and physical.
7. An alternative keymap accessed through a modifier key or toggle.

## Etymology
Appears at first glance to be from Middle English leyer, leyare (“a layer of stones or bricks”), equivalent to lay + -er. In which case, ultimately identical to etymology 2 below. For the pronunciation compare prayer.
However, this word layer (referring to a thickness of a material covering a surface) has also been argued to be from a respelling of an obsolete sense of the word lair that was once used by farmers, which had to do with soil. The connecting sense between the usual meaning of lair and the specialised farming meaning was: an area where cows typically rest, the ground being fertilised by their waste. Related to lie, ledger.

## Easily confused with
- **lye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/layer-vs-lye)
- **lays** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/layer-vs-lays)
- **leer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/layer-vs-leer)
- **lower** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/layer-vs-lower)
- **lover** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/layer-vs-lover)
- **liver** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/layer-vs-liver)
- **loser** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/layer-vs-loser)
- **liner** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/layer-vs-liner)
- **lever** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/layer-vs-lever)
- **liter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/layer-vs-liter)
- **loner** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/layer-vs-loner)
- **Layla** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/layer-vs-layla)
- **layup** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/layer-vs-layup)
- **liber** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/layer-vs-liber)
- **lazar** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/layer-vs-lazar)
- **leper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/layer-vs-leper)
- **lazer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/layer-vs-lazer)
- **leger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/layer-vs-leger)
- **Layne** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/layer-vs-layne)
- **luger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/layer-vs-luger)

## Common misspellings (7)
`alyer`, `laeyr`, `layerr`, `layre`, `layyer`, `llayer`, `lyaer`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/layer