Lie in Scrabble Dictionary

Valid words made from Lie

You can make 5 words from 'lie' in our Scrabble US and Canada dictionary.

• 3 letters words from 'lie'
• 2 letters words from 'lie'

3 letters words from 'lie'

LEI 3

LIE 3

2 letters words from 'lie'

EL 2

LI 2

Definitions and meaning of lie

lie

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /laɪ̯/
• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophones: lye, lai

Etymology 1

From Middle English lien, liggen, from Old English liċġan, from Proto-West Germanic *liggjan, from Proto-Germanic *ligjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-.

Cognate with West Frisian lizze, Dutch liggen, German liegen, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål ligge, Swedish ligga, Icelandic, Faroese and Norwegian Nynorsk liggja, Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌽 (ligan); and with Latin lectus (“bed”), Irish luighe, Russian лежа́ть (ležátʹ), Albanian lag (“troop, band, encampment”).

As a noun for position, the noun has the same etymology above as the verb.

Verb

lie (third-person singular simple present lies, present participle lying, simple past lay, past participle lain or (obsolete) lien)

2. (intransitive) To rest in a horizontal position on a surface.
   • The watchful traveller […] / Lay down again, and closed his weary eyes.

   • 1849, Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

     Our uninquiring corpses lie more low / Than our life's curiosity doth go.
3. (intransitive) To be placed or situated.
4. (intransitive, copulative) To abide; to remain for a longer or shorter time; to be in a certain state or condition.

5. Used with in: to be or exist; to belong or pertain; to have an abiding place; to consist.
   • He that thinks that diversion may not lie in hard labour, forgets the early rising and hard riding of huntsmen.

6. Used with with: to have sexual relations with.
7. Used with on/upon: to be incumbent (on); to be the responsibility of a person.
8. (archaic) To lodge; to sleep.
   • 1632, John Evelyn, diary, entry 21 October 1632

     While I was now trifling at home, I saw London, […] where I lay one night only.

   • Mr. Quinion lay at our house that night.

9. To be still or quiet, like one lying down to rest.
10. (law) To be sustainable; to be capable of being maintained.
    • 1737, lies%20in%20this%20case%22&f=false Cart against Marsh (legal case)

      An appeal lies in this case from the ordinary to the arches.

Conjugation

Usage notes

See the usage notes at lay.

Derived terms

Related terms

• lay, a corresponding transitive version of this word
• lees
• lier

Translations

Noun

lie (plural lies)

1. (golf) The terrain and conditions surrounding the ball before it is struck.
2. (disc golf) The terrain and conditions surrounding the disc before it is thrown.
3. (medicine) The position of a fetus in the womb.
4. A manner of lying; relative position.
5. An animal's lair.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English lien (“to lie, tell a falsehood”), from Old English lēogan (“to lie”), from Proto-West Germanic *leugan, from Proto-Germanic *leuganą (“to lie”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewgʰ- (“to lie, swear, bemoan”).

Cognate with West Frisian lige (“to lie”), Low German legen, lögen (“to lie”), Dutch liegen (“to lie”), German lügen (“to lie”), Norwegian ljuge/lyge (“to lie”), Danish lyve (“to lie”), Swedish ljuga (“to lie”), and more distantly with Bulgarian лъжа (lǎža, “to lie”), Russian лгать (lgatʹ, “to lie”), ложь (ložʹ, “falsehood”).

Verb

lie (third-person singular simple present lies, present participle lying, simple past and past participle lied)

2. (intransitive) To give false information intentionally with intent to deceive.

   While a principle-based approach might claim that lying is always morally wrong, the casuist would argue that, depending upon the details of the case, lying might or might not be illegal or unethical. The casuist might conclude that a person is wrong to lie in legal testimony under oath, but might argue that lying actually is the best moral choice if the lie saves a life.^WP

3. (intransitive) To convey a false image or impression.

4. (intransitive, colloquial) To be mistaken or unintentionally spread false information.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• prevaricate

Derived terms

• belie
• liar
• lie along
• lie through one's teeth

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English lie, from Old English lyġe (“lie, falsehood”), from Proto-Germanic *lugiz (“lie, falsehood”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewgʰ- (“to tell lies, swear, complain”). Cognate with Old Saxon luggi (“a lie”), Old High German lugī, lugin (“a lie”) (German Lüge), Danish løgn (“a lie”), Bulgarian лъжа́ (lǎžá, “а lie”), Russian ложь (ložʹ, “а lie”).

Noun

lie (plural lies)

1. An intentionally false statement; an intentional falsehood.

   Synonyms: alternative fact, bullshit, deception, falsehood, fib, leasing, prevarication; see also Thesaurus:lie

   Antonym: truth

2. A statement intended to deceive, even if literally true.

   Synonym: half-truth

3. (by extension) Anything that misleads or disappoints.
   • 1835, Richard Chenevix Trench, the Story of Justin Martyr

     Wishing this lie of life was o'er.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• lie on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• %ile, -ile, EIL, Eli, Ile, Lei, Lei., ile, lei

---

Finnish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlie̯/, [ˈlie̞̯]
• IPA^(key): /ˈlie̯ˣ/, [ˈlie̞̯(ʔ)]
• Rhymes: -ie
• Syllabification: lie

Verb

lie

1. (dialectal) third-person singular potential present of olla

   Se on missä lie.

   It's somewhere. / I wonder where it is.

   Tai mitä lie ovatkaan

   Or whatever they are.

   Kyllä asia lie juuri näin.

   Yes, the thing supposedly is just like that.

Usage notes

• This form is commonly used in North Karelian dialect, in standard Finnish in highly literary or solemn use, only. Can take any person form. As a main verb, the form just occurs in present tense. As an auxiliary verb form, it may take place in the perfect tense form of any verb. In dialectal use, the form can typically be seen in both direct and indirect questions.

Synonyms

• (3rd-pers. sg. potent. pres. of olla; standard) lienee

Anagrams

• eli, lei

---

French

Etymology 1

From Old French lie, from Medieval Latin lias (“lees, dregs”) (descent via winemaking common in monasteries), from Gaulish *ligyā, *legyā (“silt, sediment”) (compare Welsh llai, Old Breton leh (“deposit, silt”)), from Proto-Celtic *legyā (“layer”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”).

Noun

lie f (plural lies)

1. lees, dregs (of wine, of society)

Derived terms

• boire le calice jusqu'à la lie

Etymology 2

Verb

lie

1. inflection of lier:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative
   2. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   3. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “lie” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• île

---

Mandarin

Romanization

lie (Zhuyin ˙ㄌㄧㄝ)

1. Pinyin transcription of 咧

lie

1. Nonstandard spelling of liē.
2. Nonstandard spelling of lié.
3. Nonstandard spelling of liě.
4. Nonstandard spelling of liè.

Usage notes

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

---

Old French

Etymology

From Medieval Latin lias (“lees, dregs”) (descent via winemaking common in monasteries), from Gaulish *ligyā, *legyā (“silt, sediment”) (compare Welsh llai, Old Breton leh (“deposit, silt”)), from Proto-Celtic *legyā (“layer”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”).

Noun

lie f (oblique plural lies, nominative singular lie, nominative plural lies)

1. dregs; mostly solid, undesirable leftovers of a drink

Descendants

• → English: lees

---

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *līwanks (compare *līwos), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁w- (“stone”) (compare Ancient Greek λᾶας (lâas, “stone”), Albanian lerë (“boulder”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈl͈ʲi.e/

Noun

lie m (genitive lïac(c))

1. a stone
   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 4^d15

   • c. 845, St. Gall Glosses on Priscian, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1975, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. II, pp. 49–224, Sg. 65^a1

Declension

Descendants

• → Breton: liac'h
• Middle Irish: lía
  • Irish: lia

Mutation

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “1 lía”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

---

Spanish

Verb

lie

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of liar.
2. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of liar.

---

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish līe, lē, from Old Norse lé, from Proto-Germanic *lewô, from Proto-Indo-European *leu- (“to cut”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /liːɛ/

Noun

lie c

1. scythe; an instrument for mowing grass, grain, or the like.

Declension

Related terms

• lieblad
• liehugg
• lieknagg
• lieknagge
• lieman
• lieorv
• lieskaft
• lietag

References

• lie in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

Source: wiktionary.org

• to make an intentional false statement.
  (source: Collins Scrabble Dictionary)