Etymograph

English

lin

Lin comes from Middle English linnen ‘to stop or end’, from Old English linnan ‘to cease from, desist, lose, yield up’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ley- ‘to elude, avoid, shrink from’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ley-1‘to elude, avoid, shrink from’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*linnaną1‘to turn, move aside, avoid’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*linnan1‘to stop, cease’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150linnan1‘to cease from, desist, lose, yield up’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500linnen1‘to stop or end’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1590lin1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English lin
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book I, Canto I: “Halfe furious vnto his foe he came, / Resolv'd…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ley-Wiktionary, English lin‘to elude, avoid, shrink from’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*linnanąWiktionary, English lin‘to turn, move aside, avoid’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*linnanWiktionary, English lin‘to stop, cease’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150linnanWiktionary, English lin‘to cease from, desist, lose, yield up’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500linnenWiktionary, English lin‘to stop or end’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1590linWiktionary, English lin. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book I, Canto I: “Halfe furious vnto his foe he came, / Resolv'd…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ley- ‘to elude, avoid, shrink from’

lethal, liver, littoral, 1 more

Another origin of lin

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*līno-‘flax’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*līną‘flax, linen’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*līnǭ‘line, rope, flaxen cord, thread’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*līnā‘line, chord, rope, string’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150līn‘flax, linen, cloth’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lin
  7. Englishtodaylin

For more information, see the entry linen, lint.

Today it means

verb To desist, to stop, to cease.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “lin”. 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 *ley- / lin

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