ligature

See also: ligaturé

English

Etymology

From Middle English ligature, from Middle French ligature, from Late Latin ligātūra, from Latin ligātus, past participle of ligāre (“to tie, bind”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪɡət͡ʃɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

ligature (countable and uncountable, plural ligatures)

Examples of ligatures

1. (uncountable) The act of tying or binding something.
2. (countable) A cord or similar thing used to tie something; especially the thread used in surgery to close a vessel or duct.

   anti-ligature clothing

   (in psychiatry) clothing that prevents one from using it to tie knots

   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Gives Some Account of Himself and Family, His First Inducements to Travel. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), page 7:

     I likewiſe felt ſeveral ſlender Ligatures acroſs my Body, from my Armpits to my Thighs. I could only look upwards, the Sun began to grow hot, and the Light offended mine Eyes.

   • 2018, Eli Rosenberg, “She stalked the Golden State Killer until she died. Some think her work led to the suspect’s arrest”, in The Washington Post:

     He hid shoelaces or rope under cushions to use as ligatures.

3. A thread or wire used to remove tumours, etc.
4. The state of being bound or stiffened; stiffness.

   the ligature of a joint

5. (countable, typography) A character that visually combines multiple letters, such as æ, œ, ß or ij; also logotype. Sometimes called a typographic ligature.

   Meronym: ligand

6. (countable, music) A group of notes played as a phrase, or the curved line that indicates such a phrase.
7. (music) A curve or line connecting notes; a slur.
8. (countable) A piece used to hold a reed to the mouthpiece on woodwind instruments.
9. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) Impotence caused by magic or charms.

Derived terms

• ligature point

Related terms

• liaison
• ligate
• ligation

 

Translations

act of tying

• Albanian: ligaturë
• Bulgarian: лигатура f (ligatura)
• Dutch: ligatuur (nl) f, verbinding (nl) f
• Finnish: sitominen (fi)
• Greek: δεσμός (el) m (desmós)
• Hungarian: lekötés (hu), elkötés, összekötés (hu)
• Italian: legatura (it) f
• Latin: ligātūra (la) f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: knytting m

  Nynorsk: knyting m

• Portuguese: ligação (pt) f
• Romanian: legare (ro) f, legătură (ro) f
• Russian: лигату́ра (ru) f (ligatúra)

cord or similar used to tie something

• Catalan: lligada (ca) f, lligadura (ca) f
• Dutch: afbinding f, band (nl) m, verbinding (nl) f
• Finnish: ligatuuri (fi) (in surgery); side (fi), sidos (fi) (generally)
• Plautdietsch: Ombinjsel n
• Romanian: frânghie (ro) f, șnur (ro) n, sfoară (ro) f, funie (ro) f

typography: character that combines multiple letters

• Ancient Greek: ὑφέν f (huphén)
• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: կցագիր (hy) (kcʻagir), լիգատուրա (hy) (ligatura)
• Bengali: যুক্তাক্ষর (bn) (juktakkhor), যুক্তবর্ণ (bn) (juktoborno)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 合字 (zh) (hézì)

• Czech: slitek m, ligatura f
• Danish: ligatur c
• Dutch: ligatuur (nl) f
• Finnish: ligatuuri (fi)
• French: ligature (fr) f
• Georgian: ლიგატურა (ligaṭura)
• German: Ligatur (de) f
• Greek: λιγκατούρα (el) f (ligkatoúra)
• Hindi: संयुक्ताक्षर (sãyuktākṣar)
• Hungarian: ligatúra (hu)
• Irish: nasclitir f
• Italian: logotipo m, legatura (it) f
• Japanese: 合字 (ja) (gōji)
• Korean: 합자 (ko) (hapja)
• Malayalam: കൂട്ടക്ഷരം (ml) (kūṭṭakṣaraṁ)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: abbreviatur (no) m

  Nynorsk: abbreviatur m

• Portuguese: ligatura (pt) f
• Romanian: ligatură (ro) f
• Russian: лигату́ра (ru) f (ligatúra), вязь (ru) f (vjazʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лигатура f

  Latin: ligatura (sh) f

• Spanish: ligadura (es) f
• Swedish: ligatur (sv) c
• Tagalog: pang-angkop
• Thai: ตัวแฝด (dtuua-fɛ̀ɛt)
• Welsh: clymlythyren f

music: group of notes played as a musical phrase

• Bulgarian: легато (bg) n (legato)
• Dutch: ligatuur (nl) f
• Finnish: ligatuuri (fi)
• German: Ligatur (de) f
• Greek: λιγκατούρα (el) f (ligkatoúra)
• Hungarian: kötőív
• Irish: ceangal m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: abbreviatur (no) m

  Nynorsk: abbreviatur m

• Russian: лигату́ра (ru) f (ligatúra)
• Serbo-Croatian: ligatura (sh) f
• Spanish: ligadura (es) f

piece used to hold a reed to the mouthpiece

• Finnish: ligatuuri (fi), kiristin

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} ligature (fr)
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} ligatura (la)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} birleştirmeli yazım

Verb

ligature (third-person singular simple present ligatures, present participle ligaturing, simple past and past participle ligatured)

1. (surgery) To ligate; to tie.

Anagrams

• Gualteri, alurgite, Lartigue

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French ligature, from Late Latin ligātūra, from Latin ligātus, past participle of ligō (“tie, bind”). Compare the popular Old French liüre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /li.ɡa.tyʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

ligature f (plural ligatures)

1. a tie; the action of tying
2. a binding, notably in horticulture
3. ligature; a character that combines multiple letters; logotype

Derived terms

• ligaturer

Related terms

• lier

Further reading

• “ligature”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• lugerait
• régulait

Latin

Participle

ligātūre

1. vocative masculine singular of ligātūrus

Middle English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French ligature, itself borrowed from Late Latin ligātūra. Doublet of lyoure.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /liˈɡaːtiu̯r(ə)/

Noun

ligature (plural ligatures)

1. bandage, dressing
2. (rare) ligament

Descendants

• English: ligature

References

• “ligātūre, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.