linen
/ˈlɪnɪn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.61 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Domestic textiles, such as tablecloths, bedding, towels, underclothes, etc., that are made of linen or linen-like fabrics of cotton or other fibers; linens.
Countable
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
- "Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands."
- "She put the freshly cleaned linens into the linen closet."
- "But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶[…]The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window at the old mare feeding in the meadow below by the brook,[…]."
Etymology
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.