DictionaryRoot: ligare
Latin
ligare
bind or tie
Forms
- ligare
- ligat- — The form used for completed action.
- -lig- — A form retained in compounds.
Origin
From an old Indo-European family of binding words.
Note
A bond can be a physical tie or an obligation.
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noun / verb
alloy
AL-oy/ˈælɔɪ/
A mixture of a metal with one or more other elements.
Etymology
Binding things together is the underlying image: metals are joined into a mixture. The noun first concerned a noble metal’s purity, then expanded to mixtures without implying that one metal was inferior.