line

The word “line” means a long, thin mark or stroke, straight or curved, on a surface. In plain terms, a very flexible word covering marks, rows of people or things, telephone connections, and the fabric-covering sense (to line a jacket).

“Line” is pronounced lyn (/laɪn/ in IPA).

Here is “line” used in a sentence: “He drew a line across the page to separate the two sections.”

Depending on how it is used, “line” can be a noun and a verb.

The word “line” comes from Old English. From Old English line ("rope, row, series"), itself from a Germanic root connected to flax and linen — the oldest sense was literally "cord" or "thread", from which "row" and "mark" later developed.

“Line” is a very common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A1 level.

“Line” has 5 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a long, thin mark or stroke, straight or curved, on a surface.

Common types include straight, curved, horizontal, vertical, diagonal, and zigzag lines. Lines can also be described by style — solid, dotted, dashed, or wavy — or by relationship, such as parallel lines that never meet and perpendicular lines that cross at right angles.

In geometry, a line extends infinitely in both directions and has no endpoints, usually drawn with arrows. A line segment is a finite piece of a line with two definite endpoints and a measurable length. Everyday marks on paper are really segments, though we call them lines.

A line stretches infinitely in both directions, while a ray has one fixed endpoint and extends infinitely in only one direction — like a beam of light from its source. A line segment, by contrast, has two endpoints. All three are basic building blocks of geometry.