Etymograph

English

ligature

Ligature comes from Late Latin ligātūra, from Latin ligō ‘to tie, bind’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵ-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leyǵ-1‘to bind, tie’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEligō1‘to tie, bind’
  3. Late Latinmodernligātūra1
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600ligature1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ligature1‘ligament’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1726ligature1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English ligature
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1726, Jonathan Swift, His First Inducements to Travel. […]”: “I likewiſe felt ſeveral ſlender Ligatures acroſs my Body,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leyǵ-Wiktionary, English ligature‘to bind, tie’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEligōWiktionary, English ligature‘to tie, bind’
  3. Late LatinmodernligātūraWiktionary, English ligature
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600ligatureWiktionary, English ligature
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ligatureWiktionary, English ligature‘ligament’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1726ligatureWiktionary, English ligature. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1726, Jonathan Swift, His First Inducements to Travel. […]”: “I likewiſe felt ſeveral ſlender Ligatures acroſs my Body,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *leyǵ- ‘to bind, tie’

obligation, oblige, 12 more

through Latin ligō ‘to tie, bind’

league, religious, religion, ally, liable, alloy, liaison, lien, ligament, ligand, liaise, religiosity, obligate, legato, 14 more

Today it means

noun The act of tying or binding something.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “ligature”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *leyǵ- / ligature

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