layer
UK/ˈleɪ.ə//ˈleɪ̯ɚ/
layer noun: a single thickness of some material covering a surface.
Noun (1)
layer (plural layers)
- A single thickness of some material covering a surface.
- Wrap the loaf in two layers of aluminum foil before putting it in the oven.
- After the first coat of paint dried, he applied another layer.
- A (usually) horizontal deposit; a stratum.
- I find seven-layer cake a bit too rich.
- Sometimes, the underlying layers are exposed by erosion, revealing the story of the rocks like an open book.2012, Chinle Miller, In Mesozoic Lands: The Mesozoic Geology of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Kindle edition
- Synonyms:
- stratum
- One of the items in a hierarchy.
- mired in layers of deceit
- Right above the database access layer sits a number cruncher that performs any calculations that a particular request may require, such as computing a standard deviation. In many cases, this layer just forwards raw numbers.2001, C/C++ Users Journal, volume 19, page 38
- One in a stack of (initially transparent) drawing surfaces that comprise an image; used to keep elements of an image separate so that they can be modified independently from one another.
- One of the seven network switch pieces in the Open Systems Interconnection model: application, presentation, session, transport, network, data link, and physical.
- An alternative keymap accessed through a modifier key or toggle.
Verb
layer (third-person singular simple present layers, present participle layering, simple past and past participle layered)
Noun (2)
layer (plural layers)
- A person who lays anything, such as tiles or a wager.
- If fortune ever favoured any venturesome layer of bets, Tom Elliot was certainly the one that day.1890, The Argosy, volume 49, page 183
- A mature female bird, insect, etc. that is able to lay eggs.
- As for which hen we'll cull for next Sunday's dinner, we certainly won't eat Henrietta yet — she's still a prime layer.
- When dealing with an infestation of headlice, the first step is to eliminate the layers.
- A hen kept to lay eggs; a breed of chicken bred to maximize laying output.
- “Mrs. Boast can’t have got all these from one hatching,” [Ma] said. “I do believe there’s not more than two cockerels among them.” “The Boasts have got such a head-start with chickens, likely they’re planning to eat friers this summer,” said Pa. “It may be she took a few cockerels out of this...1941, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little Town on the Prairie
- We keep a flock of layers and flock of broilers.
- A shoot of a plant, laid underground for growth.
Proper noun capitalized: Layer
Layer (plural Layers)
- A surname.
layer meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
layer in Hindi
- single thickness of some material covering a surface
- परत parat, तह tah, तबक़ा tabqā, तबका tabkā
layer in Tamil
- அடுக்கு, இடுபவர், படிவு, படுகை, பாலம், பாளம்
layer in Marathi
- single thickness of some material covering a surface
- थर thar
layer in Urdu
- single thickness of some material covering a surface
- پَرَت parat, طَبَقَہ tabaqa
More languagesFewer languages
- layer in Bengali
- পরত porot
- layer in Telugu
- పొర pora, పొదుగుట poduguṭa
- layer in Malayalam
- പടലം paṭalaṁ, പാളി pāḷi, അടുക്ക് aṭukkŭ
- layer in Kannada
- ಹೊರಿಗೆ, ತೆಗಳಿಕೆ, ತೆಗಳಿ, ಪಸೆ
- layer in Punjabi
- ਥਲ thal
- layer in Gujarati
- લેયર
- layer in Odia
- ଥାକ thāka
- layer in Sanskrit
- धातु dhātu
- layer in Nepali
- लेयर
- layer in Pashto
- طبقه tabaqá
- layer in Tagalog
- suson, saray
- layer in Arabic
- طَبَقَة ṭabaqa
- layer in Malay
- lapisan
- layer in Thai
- ชั้น chán
- layer in Vietnamese
- lớp
- layer in Myanmar
- အထပ် a.htap
Examples of layer in a sentence
- The human body is a complex system made up of many layers.
- The frying pan was coated with a layer of non-stick material, making it easier to wash.
- See how there's another layer of metal there? That's not factory.
Synonyms of layer
Forms of layer
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | layers |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | layers |
| present participle | layering |
| past participle | layered |
| past | layered |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Layers |
Origin of layer
Appears at first glance to be from Middle English leyer, leyare (“a layer of stones or bricks”), equivalent to lay + -er. In which case, ultimately identical to etymology 2 below. For the pronunciation compare prayer. However, this word layer (referring to a thickness of a material covering a surface) has also been argued to be from a respelling of an obsolete sense of the word lair that was once used by farmers, which had to do with soil. The connecting sense between the usual meaning of lair and the specialised farming meaning was: an area where cows typically rest, the ground being fertilised by their waste. Related to lie, ledger.
From lay + -er.
Words formed from layer
- abscission layer
- absciss layer
- adlayer
- alpha layer
- basal layer
- baselayer
- bilayer
- biolayer
- boundary layer
- creamy layer
- Crookes layer
- deep scattering layer
- delayer
- D layer
- Dua's layer
- epilayer
- epitaxial layer
- F layer
- fog layer
- germ layer
- gonidial layer
- graphene layer
- gyrolayer
- Heaviside layer
- hemilayer
- heterolayer
- hidden layer
- interlayer
- intralayer
- Kennelly-Heaviside layer
- Knudsen layer
- layer 2 tunnelling protocol
- layer 8
- layerable
- layerage
- layer cake
- layer-cake
- layer cake federalism
- layer-cake federalism
- layerize
- layer of Langhans
- layer two tunnelling protocol
- layer up
- layerwise
- Lazarus layer
- Malpighian layer
- marzipan layer
- mesolayer
- metalayer
- microlayer
- monolayer
- multilayer
- nanolayer
- orchestration layer
- OSI layer
- OSI layer 8
- overlayer
- ozone layer
- pentalayer
- pipe-layer
Phrases with layer
- gun layer
- net layer
- layer cakes
- bozone layer
- surface layer
- pre-salt layer
- Purkinje layer
- semantic layer
- plexiform layer
- thickening layer
- transition layer
- seismogenic layer
2 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with layer
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- declare
- hair
- Sinclair
- where
- ayr
- care
- mayor
- parterre
- fare
- glare
- lair
- pear
- prayer
- snare
- compare
- dare
- rare
- share
- swear
- ware
- wear and tear
- Ayer
- blare
- flair
- forbear
- Kerr
- laissez faire
- mousquetaire
- pare
- prepare
- repair
- stare
- unfair
- yare
- -ware
- abear
- aflare
- despair
- glair
- heir
- impair
- Pierre
- reair
- scare
- tare
- trillionaire
- Voltaire
- aware
Questions about layer
- What does layer mean?
- Layer means a single thickness of some material covering a surface.
- What is layer in Hindi?
- Layer in Hindi is परत (parat), तह (tah), तबक़ा (tabqā). See Layer meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is layer?
- Layer can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce layer?
- Layer is pronounced /ˈleɪ̯ɚ/ (US).
- What is the plural of layer?
- The plural of layer is layers.
Words near layer in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: layer (page history and authors); Layer (page history and authors); layer (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); അടുക്ക് (Malayalam) (page history and authors); layer (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਥਲ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); layer (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ଥାକ (Odia) (page history and authors); layer (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-layer.ogg.
Cite this entry: “layer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/layer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.