Liar, Lier!

Few spelling conundrums carry as much potential for personal injury and destruction of property as liar and lier (both pronounced LIE-er). The meaning of the former is well-known—a liar is a purveyor of terminological inexactitudes. But the latter? Is it a misspelling, an alternative spelling, or a completely different word? If the suspense is killing you (as it should because pants are at stake here), here’s the quick answer:

A liar is a person whose pants are on fire because he or she lies
A lier is a person or object that lies

Now you might see a problem here—both words are nouns derived from what seems to be the same verb—lie. But, as it sometimes happens in languages, two words can be spelled and pronounced the same but have different meanings. We call those words homonyms, and liar and lier are derived from a pair of homonym verbs—one meaning to tell lies, and the other meaning to lie down.

Liar and How to Use It

Liar is a noun we use for someone who says things that are not true:

The liar’s punishment is, not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else.
—George Bernard Shaw, “The Quintessence of Ibsenism”

Whether you decide to call a lie or to let it go, once you know you’re dealing with a liar, it’s critical to take steps to protect yourself.
—The Huffington Post

When someone deliberately says something that is not true, we say that the person lies:

The actress loves Harry Potter so much that she lied to her mother and optometrist about needing glasses, so she could look like Harry, she recently revealed.
—Business Insider Australia

The verb lie with the meaning of telling falsehoods comes from the Old English word lēogan. And the things that Winston Churchill called “terminological inexactitudes” are more commonly called lies:

Too harsh for a man whose public life as we know it has been an amalgam of lies, half truths and evasions.
—The Guardian

Lier and How to Use It

If you encounter the word lier somewhere, it’s likely to be a misspelling of the word liar. But lier is a real word—it’s just rarely used. It means something or someone that is lying prostrate:

Lying in bed being a half-way house between sleeping and waking, and the mind then equally indifferent to logic and exact realism, the lier in bed can and does create his own dreams: it is an inexpensive and gentlemanly pleasure.
—Ralph Bergengren, The Perfect Gentleman

Lier is derived from the verb to lie (not to be confused with the verb lay):

While they don’t always allow you to step on the grass, let alone lie down on a patch and catch some sun rays, many provide a great piece of (urban) furniture, the Chaise Luxembourg (reclining chair) instead.
—The Independent

The verb lie in the sense of prostrating doesn’t have the same Old English roots as its untruthful homonym—it is derived from the Old English licgan.

Lie can also be a noun that refers to the position of something, and, as such, has found a very common usage in the sport of golf:
Swing coach Rick Smith says that there are a few things you need to change from your normal bunker swing when you’re dealing with a fried egg lie.
—Golf Digest

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