liaison

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A person who passes information and helps two groups work together.

   She acts as the liaison between the school and local families.

2. 2
   noun

   Communication and cooperation between two groups.

   Close liaison between the two departments helped the launch go smoothly.

3. 3
   noun

   A secret sexual relationship or affair.

   The novel hints at a secret liaison between the two characters.

Simplified etymology

Liaison came from French lier, meaning “to bind,” and was first used in English as a cookery term. By the early 19th century it had developed the senses “intimate connection” and “sexual relationship”; the later verb liaise was formed from liaison in 1920s military slang.

Borrowed from French liaison (“binding”), from Latin ligātiō (stem ligātiōn-; whence the English doublet ligation), derived from ligō (“to bind”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵ- (“to bind”).

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary