linen
pronunciation
How to pronounce linen in British English:
UK [ˈlɪnɪn]
How to pronounce linen in American English:
US [ˈlɪnɪn]
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- Noun:
- a fabric woven with fibers from the flax plant
- a high-quality paper made of linen fibers or with a linen finish
- white goods or clothing made with linen cloth
Word Origin
- linen
- linen: [OE] The word for ‘flax’ is an ancient one, shared by numerous Indo-European languages: Greek līnon, Latin līnum (source of English line), and prehistoric West Germanic *līnam among them. The latter passed into Old English as līn, but now survives only in the compound linseed (literally ‘flax-seed’). Its adjectival derivative, however, *līnīn, lives on in the form linen, nowadays used as a noun meaning ‘cloth made from flax’.The Latin word, or its French descendants lin or linge, have contributed several other derivatives to English, including crinoline, lingerie [19] (literally ‘linen garments’), linnet [16] (etymologically a ‘flaxeating bird’), linoleum [19], and lint [14].=> crinoline, line, lingerie, linnet, linoleum, lint
- linen (n.)
- "cloth from woven flax," early 14c.; earlier as an adjective, "made of flax" (c. 1200), from Old English linin (adj.) "made of flax," from lin "flax, linen thread, cloth," from Proto-Germanic *linam (cognates: Old Saxon, Old Norse, Old High German lin "flax, linen," German Leinen "linen," Gothic lein "linen cloth"), probably an early borrowing from Latin linum "flax, linen," which, along with Greek linon is from a non-Indo-European language.
Synonym
Example
- 1. America brought thousands of tons of detergent , linen , clothes etc. to russia .
- 2. Afterwards they were properly dry , and the feel of starched linen was nice .
- 3. The fabric looked like a blend of linen and raw silk .
- 4. Make linen undergarments as a covering for the body , reaching from the waist to the thigh .
- 5. Their righteous acts are like filthy rags in comparison with the spotless linen of christ .