liar

B1 Topic:People & Society

US /ˈlaɪ.ɚ/ UK /ˈlaɪ.ə/ See IPA manual

Homophones

lyre /ˈlaɪ.ɚ/

Freq #1928

Meanings

1

noun
A person who tells lies, especially one who lies often.

Nobody trusts him because he is a known liar.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person who tells lies,... prevaricator

More blufferbullshittercontradictordeceiver fabricator fabulistfalsifierfibbergoofergossipernonsenserstoryteller

Word family

Forms liars

Derived forms bliarnonliar

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

pathological liar
a person who lies habitually or compulsively

Adjective + noun

Proverbs (3)

See all

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English lier, liere, lyere, liȝer, lieȝer, legher, from Old English lēgere, lēogere (“liar, false witness, hypocrite”), from Proto-West Germanic *leugārī, from Proto-Germanic *leugārijaz (“liar”), from *leuganą (“to lie”) + *-ārijaz, equivalent to lie + -ar. More at lie.

lier Middle English lēgere Old English *leugārī Proto-West Germanic *leugārijaz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# liar

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈlaɪ.ɚ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈlaɪ.ə/
**Frequency rank:** 1928

## Meanings
1. A person who tells lies, especially one who lies often.

## Examples
- Nobody trusts him because he is a known liar.

## Synonyms
- bluffer
- bullshitter
- contradictor
- deceiver
- fabricator
- fabulist
- falsifier
- fibber
- goofer
- gossiper
- nonsenser
- storyteller

## Derived Forms
- bliar
- nonliar

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: lier
- Root: lēgere
- Root: *leugārī
- Root: *leugārijaz

## Etymology
Inherited from Middle English lier, liere, lyere, liȝer, lieȝer, legher, from Old English lēgere, lēogere (“liar, false witness, hypocrite”), from Proto-West Germanic *leugārī, from Proto-Germanic *leugārijaz (“liar”), from *leuganą (“to lie”) + *-ārijaz, equivalent to lie + -ar. More at lie.

## AI Etymology
Liar is inherited from Middle English lier, liere, lyere, liȝer, lieȝer, legher, from Old English lēgere, lēogere (“liar, false witness, hypocrite”), from Proto-West Germanic *leugārī, from Proto-Germanic *leugārijaz (“liar”), from *leuganą (“to lie”) + *-ārijaz, equivalent to lie + -ar. More at lie. The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern nominal form is built from the named base and affix.

## Topics
- People & Society

markdown