linen
/ˈlɪnɪn/noun, adjective
linen is spelled L-I-N-E-N: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 4.1 times per million words in written English, the 12,764th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, linen means “Thread or cloth made from flax fiber” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of linen is linens.
How many letters and syllables are in linen?
| Letters | 5: L-I-N-E-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.1 times per million words; the 12,764th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is linen?
Linen appears 4.1 times per million words in written English, the 12,764th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce linen?
- /ˈlɪnɪn/
Linen has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-linen.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of linen
- linens plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does linen mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Thread or cloth made from flax fiber.
- 2
Domestic textiles, such as tablecloths, bedding, towels, underclothes, etc., that are made of linen or linen-like fabrics of cotton or other fibers; linens.
She put the freshly cleaned linens into the linen closet.
- 3
A light beige colour, like that of linen cloth undyed.
adjective
- 1
Made from linen cloth or thread.
- 2
Having the colour linen, light beige.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Linen in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | toile, lin, linge |
| German | Leinen , Heimtextilien |
| Portuguese | linho , roupa |
| Spanish | lino, linge , ropa blanca , linocros |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does linen come from?
From Middle English lynnen, lynen, from Old English līnen (“linen", "made of flax”), from Proto-West Germanic *līnīn (“made of flax”), from Proto-Germanic *līną (“flax”), from Proto-Indo-European *līno- (“flax”), equivalent to line + -en. Cognate with Latin līnum (“flax”) and thus also Linum. More at line.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).