line
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
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4 characters
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English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "line", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "line" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "line" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
line is aEnglishnoun. It means: A path through two or more points (compare ‘segment’); a continuous mark, including as made by a pen; any path, curved or straight. Pronounced /laɪn/. It ranks #306 in English word frequency. Often confused with LN and lit.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | line |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /laɪn/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #306 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for line is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /laɪn/. Corpus data places it at rank #306 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 56 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 4 documented wrong-spelling variants for line, with forms such as "ilne", "linne", and "lline". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "LN", "lit", "lip", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English line, lyne, from Old English līne (“line, cable, rope, hawser, series, row, rule, direction”), from Proto-West Germanic *līnā, from Proto-Germanic *līnǭ (“line, rope, flaxen cord, thread”), from Proto-Germanic *līną (“flax, linen”), from… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is line, spelled L-I-N-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A path through two or more points (compare ‘segment’); a continuous mark, including as made by a pen; any path, curved or straight.
- 2A path through two or more points (compare ‘segment’); a continuous mark, including as made by a pen; any path, curved or straight.
- 3A path through two or more points (compare ‘segment’); a continuous mark, including as made by a pen; any path, curved or straight.
- 4A path through two or more points (compare ‘segment’); a continuous mark, including as made by a pen; any path, curved or straight.
- 5A path through two or more points (compare ‘segment’); a continuous mark, including as made by a pen; any path, curved or straight.
- 6A path through two or more points (compare ‘segment’); a continuous mark, including as made by a pen; any path, curved or straight.
- 7A path through two or more points (compare ‘segment’); a continuous mark, including as made by a pen; any path, curved or straight.
- 8A path through two or more points (compare ‘segment’); a continuous mark, including as made by a pen; any path, curved or straight.
- 9A path through two or more points (compare ‘segment’); a continuous mark, including as made by a pen; any path, curved or straight.
- 10A path through two or more points (compare ‘segment’); a continuous mark, including as made by a pen; any path, curved or straight.
- 11A rope, cord, string, thread, or cable, of any thickness.
- 12A hose, tube, or pipe, of any size.
- 13Direction, path.
- 14A procession, either physical or conceptual, which results from the application or effect of a given rationale or other controlling principles of belief, opinion, practice, or phenomenon.
- 15The wire connecting one telegraphic station with another, a telephone or internet cable between two points: a telephone or network connection.
- 16A clothesline.
- 17A letter, a written form of communication.
- 18A connected series of public conveyances, as a roadbed or railway track; and hence, an established arrangement for forwarding merchandise, etc.; a railroad line, railway line, Elizabeth Line etc.
- 19A trench or rampart, or the non-physical demarcation of the extent of the territory occupied by specified forces.
- 20The exterior limit of a figure or territory: a boundary, contour, or outline; a demarcation.
- 21A long tape or ribbon marked with units for measuring; a tape measure.
- 22A measuring line or cord.
- 23That which was measured by a line, such as a field or any piece of land set apart; hence, allotted place of abode.
- 24A threadlike crease or wrinkle marking the face, hand, or body; hence, a characteristic mark.
- 25Lineament; feature; figure (of one's body).
- 26A more-or-less straight sequence of people, objects, etc., either arranged as a queue or column and often waiting to be processed or dealt with, or arranged abreast of one another in a row (and contrasted with a column), as in a military formation.
- 27A more-or-less straight sequence of people, objects, etc., either arranged as a queue or column and often waiting to be processed or dealt with, or arranged abreast of one another in a row (and contrasted with a column), as in a military formation.
- 28The regular infantry of an army, as distinguished from militia, guards, volunteer corps, cavalry, artillery, etc.
- 29A series of notes forming a certain part (such as the bass or melody) of a greater work.
- 30A series or succession of ancestors or descendants of a given person; a family or race; compare lineage.
- 31A small amount of text. Specifically:
- 32A small amount of text. Specifically:
- 33A small amount of text. Specifically:
- 34A small amount of text. Specifically:
- 35Course of conduct, thought, occupation, or policy; method of argument; department of industry, trade, or intellectual activity.
- 36The official, stated position (or set of positions) of an individual or group, particularly a political or religious faction.
- 37Information about or understanding of something. (Mostly restricted to the expressions get a line on, have a line on, and give a line on.)
- 38A set of products or services sold by a business, or by extension, the business itself.
- 39A number of shares taken by a jobber.
- 40Any of an ill-defined set of units of length, varying according to the country, discipline, industry, and date of application, commonly with no indication of the intended magnitude
- 41Any of an ill-defined set of units of length, varying according to the country, discipline, industry, and date of application, commonly with no indication of the intended magnitude:
- 42Any of an ill-defined set of units of length, varying according to the country, discipline, industry, and date of application, commonly with no indication of the intended magnitude:
- 43Any of an ill-defined set of units of length, varying according to the country, discipline, industry, and date of application, commonly with no indication of the intended magnitude:
- 44Any of an ill-defined set of units of length, varying according to the country, discipline, industry, and date of application, commonly with no indication of the intended magnitude:
- 45Ellipsis of agate line (one fourteenth of an inch).
- 46A maxwell, a unit of magnetic flux.
- 47The batter's box.
- 48The position in which the fencers hold their swords.
- 49Proper relative position or adjustment (of parts, not as to design or proportion, but with reference to smooth working).
- 50A portion or serving of a powdery recreational drug, especially cocaine, formed into a line on a flat surface in preparation for snorting.
- 51Instruction; doctrine.
- 52A population of cells derived from a single cell and containing the same genetic makeup.
- 53a set composed of a spike, a drip chamber, a clamp, a Y-injection site, a three-way stopcock and a catheter.
- 54A group of forwards that play together.
- 55A set of positions in a team which play in a similar position on the field; in a traditional team, consisting of three players and acting as one of six such sets in the team.
- 56A vascular catheter.
Etymology
From Middle English line, lyne, from Old English līne (“line, cable, rope, hawser, series, row, rule, direction”), from Proto-West Germanic *līnā, from Proto-Germanic *līnǭ (“line, rope, flaxen cord, thread”), from Proto-Germanic *līną (“flax, linen”), from Proto-Indo-European *līno- (“flax”). Influenced in Middle English by Middle French ligne (“line”), from Latin linea. More at linen. The oldest sense of the word is “rope, cord, thread”; from this the senses “path”, “continuous mark” were derived.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ilne,linne,lline,lnie
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for line
Misspelling Variants of "line"
Frequency rank: #306 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter L in our English index: