lime

English has three words spelled lime: the calcium compound, the linden tree and the citrus fruit.^[1][2]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /laɪm/^[3]

lime¹ calcium oxide; birdlime

Etymology

Lime, the mineral, is inherited from Middle English lim, inherited from Old English līm (“sticky substance, birdlime; mortar”),^[1][4][2] from Proto-Germanic *līmą,^[4][1] cognate with Old Saxon līm, Dutch lijm, German Leim (“birdlime”) and Old Norse lím,^[1][4][2] from Proto-Indo-European *sleyH- (“slime, sticky”), also the source of Latin līmus (“mud”) (see slime).^[4][2] It is related to loam.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sticky substance, birdlime, spread on twigs to catch birds: before 700 in the OED, about 700 in Barnhart.^[5][1][4]

Semantic evolution

Mortar or cement for building is from about 725,^[5] and the alkaline earth calcium oxide, made by burning limestone or shells, from before 1000.^[5][4] Lime-kiln is from the late 13th century and limestone from before 1398.^[4][1] The verb, to cement, is Old English, and to treat land with lime from 1649.^[1]

Timeline

• before 700 – birdlime.^[5]
• c. 725 – mortar.^[5]
• before 1000 – calcium oxide.^[5]
• late 13th century – lime-kiln.^[4]
• before 1398 – limestone.^[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Calcium oxide, a white alkaline substance made by heating limestone, or calcium hydroxide; quicklime.
2. Calcium compounds spread on land to improve the soil.
3. Birdlime.

Verb

1. To treat with lime, or to smear or catch with birdlime.

Word family

• limestone
• limelight
• lime-kiln
• quicklime
• birdlime

lime² linden tree

Etymology

The tree is an unexplained alteration of earlier line (about 1510),^[2][1][6] itself inherited from Middle English lynde, inherited from Old English lind (see linden).^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

1625, in Bacon's Essays.^[1][6]

Timeline

• c. 1325 – lynde.^[1]
• c. 1510 – line.^[1]
• 1625 – lime.^[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A linden tree of the genus Tilia.

lime³ citrus fruit

Etymology

The fruit is borrowed from Spanish lima (or limão),^[1][4][2] from Arabic لِيمَة (līma, “citrus fruit”),^[1][4][2] probably a back-formation from لِيمُون (līmūn, “lemon”), from Persian لیمون (limun).^[1][4] It is related to lemon.^[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

1638 in Barnhart and the OED, the 1630s in Etymonline.^[1][5][4]

Semantic evolution

Yule and Burnell thought the English got the word from the Portuguese in India.^[4] Lime-green as a colour is by 1883.^[4]

Timeline

• 1638 – lime, the fruit.^[1][5]
• 1883 – lime green.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A small green citrus fruit with acid juice, or the tree Citrus aurantifolia that bears it.
2. A yellowish-green colour.

Word family

• limeade
• limey
• lime green

Related words

• linden
• slime
• loam
• lemon

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press