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Added 9 October 2026

layer

/ˈleɪ̯ɚ/ noun

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about layer at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Single thickness of usually some homogeneous substance.
slices of hard-boiled egg on a bed of spinach
A relatively thin sheetlike expanse or region lying over or under another.
An abstract place usually conceived as having depth.
a good actor communicates on several levels

verb

Make or form a layer.
layer the different colored sands

Origin

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.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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