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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

inlay.

To place (pieces of a foreign material) within another material to form a decorative design.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ɪnˈleɪ/
  1. To place (pieces of a foreign material) within another material to form a decorative design.

    also · figuratively
  2. To place an inlay in a tooth.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Italic *n̥- Latin in-bor. Middle English in- English in- Old English læġ English lay English inlay From in- + lay.

noun/ˈɪn.leɪ/
  1. The material placed within a different material in the form of a decoration.

  2. A filling for a tooth, made of ceramic or gold to fit the cavity and shape of tooth and cemented into place.

  3. The piece of paper or the booklet inside the case of a compact disc, DVD, or cassette.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Italic *n̥- Latin in-bor. Middle English in- English in- Old English læġ English lay English inlay From in- + lay.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.