liken

UK/ˈlaɪk(ə)n/US/ˈlaɪkən/

verbC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,474 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: likened, likening, likens

To liken is to say that one thing is like another. Liken it to a machine, likened him to a bull, often likened to.

It always takes to and is nearly always passive in writing. It is a stronger claim than compare, since comparing two things may find differences and likening asserts the resemblance.

Definitions of liken

1verblikenTo say that one thing is like another.C1
“Critics likened the new stadium to a giant spaceship.”

liken is a comparing.

Where it comes from

Middle English liknen comes from like, meaning similar.

Proto-Indo-European
*leyg- — like, similar; even, level
Proto-Germanic
*galīkaz — like, similar; equal
Old English
ġelīċ — like, similar
Middle English
liknen — to be comparable; to compare (often disparagingly); to make (someone) equal to another person; to regard (something) as equal to another thing; to regard (something) as likely; to resemble; to take (something) as a substitute; to apply, be adapted or suitable; to tend (to sin)
English, today
liken

Built from

liken · Middle English — to be comparable; to compare; to be appropriate; to form
lik · Middle English — alike, analogous, similar; appropriate, suitable; equal; homogeneous; identical, the same; indicative; likely (to be or do something), probable; possible; simultaneous; more or most like (?)

From Middle English liknen (“to be comparable; to compare (often disparagingly); to make (someone) equal to another person; to regard (something) as equal to another thing; to regard (something) as likely; to resemble; to take (something) as a substitute; to apply, be adapted or suitable; to tend (to sin)”)leccone, legen, leken, lekenen, lekyn, licken, lickene, lickenen, lickne, lickyn, licne, licnen, likkenen, likkin, likkyn, liken, likenen, likne, likon, likyn, lycken, lyckene, lyckyn, lyken, lykken, lykkyn, lykne, lykyn, lykyne, from liken (“to be comparable; to compare; to be appropriate; to form”), from lik (“alike, analogous, similar; appropriate, suitable; equal; homogeneous; identical, the same; indicative; likely (to be or do something), probable; possible; simultaneous; more or most like (?)”) + -en. Lik is derived from Old English ġelīċ (“like, similar”), from Proto-Germanic galīkaz (“like, similar; equal”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European leyg- (“like, similar; even, level”). The English word is analysable as like + en.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

liken in the wild

Bunka artists use a specialized embroidery needle and rayon threads (originally silk) to create very detailed pictures that some liken to oil paintings.
Bunka shishu
We are proud of our former instincts, but wish to liken our association with said genre to that of the snake with Eve.
Metamorphosis (EP)
While contemporary listeners will liken this album to the similar style of Latin Freestyle, many of the songs were produced in a sleeker, more polished, electro style.
I Want Your Love (album)
Critics have most often liken Dant to William Hogarth, whose 18th-century satirical prints were created with a moral purpose in mind.
Adam Dant
Some liken it to a sword, others to a syringe.
Embassy of Russia, Havana

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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