# lain

Pronunciation: say "LAYN" /leɪn/

## Verb

1. Past participle of lie. — past participle of lie (“to be oriented in a horizontal position, situated”)
   - Simple: Past participle of lie. Use it after has, have or had.
   - _The old letters had lain forgotten in the attic for decades._
   - _By morning, fresh snow had lain across the entire valley._
2. Past participle of lay. Nonstandard, heard in casual speech; the standard form is laid. *(colloquial)* — past participle of lay (“to put down”)
   - Simple: Past participle of lay. A nonstandard form heard in casual speech. The standard form is laid.
   - _"I swear I'd lain the remote right here on the arm of the chair," he grumbled._
   - _"She's just lain the baby down for his nap, so keep it quiet," her husband whispered at the door._

## Verb

3. To keep something hidden, or to say nothing about it. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To hide something or keep it a secret.

## Origin

It comes from Middle English lainen or leynen, from Old Norse leyna ("to conceal") and Old English līeġnan ("to deny; conceal"); both trace back to Proto-Germanic *laugnijaną, from *laugnō ("secrecy").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/lain (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).