lig

L1I1G2
/lɪɡ/

verb

To lie; be in a prostrate or recumbent position.

OriginMiddle English liggen ← Old English liċġan ← Old Norse liggja →
Less commonScrabble 4
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Meanings

lig1

verblig (third-person singular simple present ligs, present participle ligging, simple past ligged or lag or lay, past participle ligged or lag or lay or laggen or lain)

present singular third person ligs · participle present ligging · past ligged · past lag · past lay · participle past ligged · participle past lag · participle past lay · participle past laggen · participle past lain

  1. CumbriaYorkshireintransitiveTo lie; be in a prostrate or recumbent position.

    His limbes would rest, ne lig in ease embost

    1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
  2. CumbriaYorkshiretransitiveTo lay.
  3. intransitiveslangTo be a ligger or hanger-on; to freeload.

    […] but within the confines of the music business it means the pinnacle of a career dedicated to ligging […]

    1991, Blues & Soul, numbers 589-601, page 32

lig2

nounlig (plural ligs)

plural ligs

  1. UKobsoleteslangA lie; an untruth.

    And the Muse of Arts that never told a lig, / Whirls in her mid-air flight to sing of Twigg; […]

    1867, James Torrington Spencer Lidstone, The Fourteenth Londoniad, page 85

Origin

lig · verb

  1. Old Norseliggja“to lie”
  2. Old Englishliċġan“to lie, be situated, be at rest, remain”
  3. Middle Englishliggen
  4. Englishlig

From Middle English liggen, from Old English liċġan (“to lie, be situated, be at rest, remain”) and Old Norse liggja (“to lie”). More at lie.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Old Norse

Full word history & related roots →

lig · noun

  1. Proto-Germanic*lugį̄“lie, falsehood”
  2. Old Norselygi“a lie”
  3. Middle English*ligge
  4. Englishlig

Probably from Middle English *ligge, from Old Norse lygi (“a lie”), from Proto-Germanic *lugį̄ (“lie, falsehood”). Cognate with Old English lyġe and lyġen.

More words from Middle English, Old Norse, Proto-Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with lig

bigfigconfigdigsiggigrigwigtigzigbrigtwigtrigvigcigswigwhigbigwiggrigfriggTaguigthigprigredig
All rhymes →

Anagrams

GilIlg
Cite this entry
APA

lig. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lig

MLA

“lig.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lig. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lig,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lig.

Source: lig on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.