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Pronunciation

UK IPA: /ËˆlaÉªbÉ¹É™É¹i/
UK IPA: /ËˆlaÉªbÉ™É¹i/, /ËˆlaÉªbÉ¹i/
US IPA: /ËˆlaÉªËŒbÉ¹É›É¹i/, /ËˆlaÉªbÉ¹É™É¹i/
US IPA: /ËˆlaÉªËŒbÉ›É¹i/

Origin

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 bochus, bochous ("library, bookhouse") (from Old English bÅchÅ«s ("library, bookhouse")).

Full definition of library

Noun

library

(plural libraries)

An institution which holds books and/or other forms of stored information for use by the public or qualified people. It is usual, but not a defining feature of a library, for it to be housed in rooms of a building, to lend items of its collection to members either with or without payment, and to provide various other services for its community of users.
A collection of books or other forms of stored information.
An equivalent collection of analogous information in a non-printed form, e.g. record library
(computer science) A collection of software subprograms that provides functionality, to be incorporated into or used by a computer program.
(card games) The deck or draw pile

Usage notes

Foreign words of similar form to library but differing in meaning include French librairie ("bookshop") ,Italian libreria ("bookshop") and Portuguese livraria ("bookshop").