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The Learning Kingdom's Cool Word of the Day for April 15, 1999
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ligature [n. LIG-uh-chur]
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Ligature is the act of tying or binding, and a ligature is something
that binds or ties, like a cord or bandage. It can also be a
united pair of letters such as "a" with "e" (which we can't show you
here, because the character is not in the standard set). In music a
ligature is a slurred connection between two adjacent notes.
In the case of combined letters, ligatures were first used by scribes
in medieval times to increase writing speed and to save space. Today
they are used to improve readability, and some computer fonts include
them. They may include such combinations as ff, fi, fl, ffi, ffl, Rp,
ct, st, Sh, Si, Sl, SS, and St.
The word came through Old French, from Late Latin ligatura, from
ligare (to bind). It's part of a family of "binding and connecting"
words, that also includes these words:
ligate: to tie or bind with a ligature
ligase: a biological molecule that links together two other molecules
ligament: (anatomy) a sheet or band of connective tissue
lien: a document that binds a person to pay a debt
oblige: to make someone indebted (bound) or grateful
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