align

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English alinen,^[2][3] borrowed from Middle French aligner (“to arrange in a line”), also alinher,^[4][3][5][6] from Old French alignier (“to set or lay in line”),^[7][3][8] formed from a- (“to”) and ligner (“to line”),^[4][7][3] or from the phrase à ligne (“into line”).^[9][8][10] The French word comes from Latin ad- and līnea (“line”),^[5][3] and Barnhart and Etymonline give the verb as from līneō (“to reduce to a straight line”).^[3][7] The Anglo-Norman aliner is recorded from about 1170, meaning to form a straight line.^[11] The OED notes that the French verb had the sense of a male animal mating from the 14th century.^[4] The earlier English form was aline;^[3][7][12] the spelling align, with a -g- that Etymonline calls unetymological in English, spread in the 1800s in imitation of French.^[3][7] Skeat held the older spelling to be the better one for English.^[12] The OED compares Spanish alinear, Portuguese alinhar and Italian allineare.^[4] It is related to line.^[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a male animal, to mate with a female: about 1425, in Edward, Duke of York's Master of Game, of wolves and hounds,^[4][2][3] translating the French alinher.^[2] This hunting sense is obsolete.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

The modern sense, to place things in a line, appeared afresh from French in 1693, in John Evelyn's translation of a gardening dictionary by La Quintinie;^[4][6] the Oxford Dictionary of English and Collins date the word to the 17th century.^[10][13] Military drill gave the uses "to bring into line with something else" and "to fall into line" in 1781,^[4] and the intransitive "to form a line, line up" in 1815.^[4] From the 1870s, in American newspapers, it was used of associating oneself with a cause or group, or bringing someone into alliance with one,^[4] and Etymonline dates the international political sense to 1934.^[7] The noun alignment is recorded from 1790.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – of a male animal, to mate (obsolete).^[4][2]
• 1693 – to arrange things in a line.^[4][6]
• 1781 – to bring into line with something; to fall into line.^[4]
• 1790 – alignment.^[3]
• 1815 – to form a line, line up.^[4]
• 1871 – to associate oneself with a cause or group.^[4]
• 1934 – international political alignment.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To place or arrange things in a straight line, or in line with each other: Align the bottom edges of the two posters.^[13][6][4]
2. To adjust the parts of a machine or structure, such as the wheels of a car, so that they stand in the proper relation to each other.^[13][6]
3. To bring a person, group or country into agreement or alliance with another; often reflexive, to side with: The party aligned itself with the farmers' union.^[13][4]
4. To fall into line; to come into alignment.^[13][4]
5. (obsolete) Of a male animal, to mate with a female.^[4][2][8]

Word family

• aligner
• realign

Related words

• line
• linear
• lineage

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins