Etymology

one-liner

Today it means: A short joke, especially one of a single sentence. Full definition →

English line ← Middle English line ← Old English līne
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ís?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁óynos
  3. Proto-Germanic*ainaz
  4. Proto-West Germanic*ain
  5. Old Englishān
  6. Middle Englishon
  7. Englishone
  8. Proto-Indo-European*līno-der.?
  9. Proto-Germanic*līną
  10. Proto-Germanic*līnǭ
  11. Proto-West Germanic*līnā
  12. Old Englishlīne
  13. Middle Englishline
  14. Englishline
  15. English todayone-liner

From one + line + -er.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.