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Added 9 October 2026

library

/ˈlaɪ.bɹi/ noun

In Latin: bibliothēca, librārium Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about library at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A room where books are kept.
they had brandy in the library
A collection of literary documents or records kept for reference or borrowing.
A depository built to contain books and other materials for reading and study.

Origin

From Middle English librarie, from Anglo-Norman librarie, from Old French librairie, from Latin librarium (“bookcase, chest for books”), from librarius (“concerning books”), from liber (“the inner bark of trees; paper, parchment, book”), probably derived from a Proto-Indo-European base *leub(ʰ)- (“to strip, to peel”). Displaced native Middle English bochous, bokhus (literally “book house”), from Old English bōchūs (compare bookhouse). Romance cognates often mean “bookshop” instead: French librairie, Italian libreria, Spanish librería, Romanian librărie and Portuguese livraria. This is a relatively recent innovation (16th century in French), which ended up displacing the earlier sense.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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