Lying
/ˈlaɪ.ɪŋ/noun
Present participle of lie, meaning to tell an untruth or to recline.
Did you know?The deception sense of lie comes from Old English lygan, while the recline sense comes from a different Old English verb licgan, so English fused two unrelated words into one spell-like form.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*leugh-
“to tell lies, speak falsely”
Old English
OE
lygan
“to lie, speak falsely”
Old English
OE
licgan
“to lie down, recline”
Middle English
ME
lyen / lien
“to lie, speak falsely; also to recline”
Modern English
English
lying
“present participle of lie, either 'telling untruths' or 'reclining'”