Etymology

layer

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Today it means: A single thickness of some material covering a surface. Full definition →

Middle English leyer
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layer · noun, verb1

  1. Middle English · inherited fromleyer
  2. English todaylayer

Appears at first glance to be from Middle English leyer, leyare (“a layer of stones or bricks”), equivalent to lay + -er. In which case, ultimately identical to etymology 2 below. For the pronunciation compare prayer. However, this word layer (referring to a thickness of a material covering a surface) has also been argued to be from a respelling of an obsolete sense of the word lair that was once used by farmers, which had to do with soil. The connecting sense between the usual meaning of lair and the specialised farming meaning was: an area where cows typically rest, the ground being fertilised by their waste. Related to lie, ledger.

layer · noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European*legʰ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*logʰéyeti
  3. Proto-Germanic*lagjaną
  4. Proto-West Germanic*laggjan
  5. Old Englishleċġan
  6. Middle Englishleyen
  7. Englishlay
  8. English todaylayer

From lay + -er.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.