linen

Meanings

Noun

• Thread or cloth made from flax fiber.
• Domestic textiles, such as tablecloths, bedding, towels, underclothes, etc., that are made of linen or linen-like fabrics of cotton or other fibers; linens.
• A light beige colour, like that of linen cloth undyed.

Adjective

• Made from linen cloth or thread.
• Having the colour linen, light beige.

Related

Narrower meaning words

• bedlinen
• dirty linen
• fair linen
• table linen
• underlinen

Origin

• 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"). More at line.