lier

See also: Lier

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪ.ə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪ.ɚ/
• Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)
• Homophones: liar, lyre

Etymology 1

From Middle English lier, equivalent to lie +‎ -er. Compare ligger, lidger, ledger.

Noun

lier (plural liers)

1. A person or thing that lies, in the sense of being horizontal.
2. A lie-abed; one who stays in bed late.

Etymology 2

See the main lemma.

Noun

lier (plural liers)

1. Obsolete spelling of liar.
2. Misspelling of liar.

Anagrams

• Iler, Irel., Reil, Riel, lire, riel, rile

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch liere, from Latin lyra, from Ancient Greek λύρα (lúra).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lir/, [liːr], [liə̯r]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: lier
• Rhymes: -ir

Noun

lier f (plural lieren, diminutive liertje n)

1. (music) lyre
2. (music) hurdy-gurdy, wheel fiddle
3. winch

Derived terms

• draailier
• lierhert
• zijn lier aan de wilgen hangen

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French lier, from Latin ligāre, from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵ- (“to bind”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lje/, /li.e/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

lier

1. to link
2. to associate
3. (cooking) to thicken

   lier une sauce ― to thicken a sauce

Conjugation

Conjugation of lier (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	lier
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	liant /ljɑ̃/ or /li.ɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		lié /lje/ or /li.e/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	lie /li/	lies /li/	lie /li/	lions /ljɔ̃/ or /li.ɔ̃/	liez /lje/ or /li.e/	lient /li/
	imperfect	liais /ljɛ/ or /li.ɛ/	liais /ljɛ/ or /li.ɛ/	liait /ljɛ/ or /li.ɛ/	liions /li.jɔ̃/	liiez /li.je/	liaient /ljɛ/ or /li.ɛ/
	past historic2	liai /lje/ or /li.e/	lias /lja/ or /li.a/	lia /lja/ or /li.a/	liâmes /ljam/ or /li.am/	liâtes /ljat/ or /li.at/	lièrent /ljɛʁ/ or /li.ɛʁ/
	future	lierai /li.ʁe/ or /li.ə.ʁe/	lieras /li.ʁa/ or /li.ə.ʁa/	liera /li.ʁa/ or /li.ə.ʁa/	lierons /li.ʁɔ̃/ or /li.ə.ʁɔ̃/	lierez /li.ʁe/ or /li.ə.ʁe/	lieront /li.ʁɔ̃/ or /li.ə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	lierais /li.ʁɛ/ or /li.ə.ʁɛ/	lierais /li.ʁɛ/ or /li.ə.ʁɛ/	lierait /li.ʁɛ/ or /li.ə.ʁɛ/	lierions /li.ʁjɔ̃/ or /li.ə.ʁjɔ̃/	lieriez /li.ʁje/ or /li.ə.ʁje/	lieraient /li.ʁɛ/ or /li.ə.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	lie /li/	lies /li/	lie /li/	liions /li.jɔ̃/	liiez /li.je/	lient /li/
	imperfect2	liasse /ljas/ or /li.as/	liasses /ljas/ or /li.as/	liât /lja/ or /li.a/	liassions /lja.sjɔ̃/ or /li.a.sjɔ̃/	liassiez /lja.sje/ or /li.a.sje/	liassent /ljas/ or /li.as/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	lie /li/	—	lions /ljɔ̃/ or /li.ɔ̃/	liez /lje/ or /li.e/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• avoir les mains liées
• fou à lier
• liaison
• morphème lié
• se lier d’amitié

Related terms

• délier
• liaison
• liement
• lien
• ligament
• ligature
• obliger
• relier

Descendants

• → Dutch: liëren
• → German: liieren

Further reading

• “lier”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• lire

Latin

Verb

līer

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of līō

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• Lider, lider (obsolete spellings)

Noun

lier f

1. indefinite plural of li

Anagrams

• iler, leir, leri, lire, reil

Old French

Alternative forms

• liier, lïer (diaereses not universally used by scholars of Old French)

Etymology

From Latin ligāre.

Verb

lier

1. to tie up; to connect with a tie

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of lier (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		lier			avoir lïé
gerund		en liant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		liant
past participle		lïé
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	li	lïes	lïe	lions	lïez	lïent
	imperfect	lioie, lïeie, lioe, lïeve	lioies, lïeies, lioes, lïeves	lioit, lïeit, liot, lïeve	liiiens, liiens	liiiez, liiez	lioient, lïeient, lioent, lïevent
	preterite	liai	lias	lia	liames	liastes	lïerent
	future	lïerai	lïeras	lïera	lïerons	lïeroiz, lïereiz, lïerez	lïeront
	conditional	lïeroie, lïereie	lïeroies, lïereies	lïeroit, lïereit	lïeriiens, lïeriens	lïeriiez, lïeriez	lïeroient, lïereient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	li	lis	lit	lions	lïez	lïent
	imperfect	liasse	liasses	liast	liissons, liissiens	liissoiz, liissez, liissiez	liassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	lïe	—	lions	lïez	—

Descendants

• French: lier
  • → Dutch: liëren
  • → German: liieren
• → Middle English: lien
  • English: lye
• →? Galician: lear
• →? Portuguese: liar
• →? Spanish: liar