Label Meaning
/ˈleɪ.bəl/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA small ticket or sign giving information about something to which it is attached or intended to be attached.
nounA name given to something or someone to categorise them as part of a particular social group.
Sentence Examples
Attach this label to your package.
The label is attached to the trunk.
He filed a lawsuit against his record label.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Before the garage sale, she attached a price ____ to every item.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You should read the ____ on the bottle carefully before taking any of the medicine that is inside it.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English label (“narrow band, strip of cloth”), from Old French label, lambel (Modern French lambeau), from Frankish *lappā (“torn piece of cloth”), from Proto-Germanic *lappǭ, *lappô (“cloth stuff, rag, scraps, flap, dewlap, lobe, rabbit ear”), from Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“blade”). Cognate with Old High German lappa (“rag, piece of cloth”), Old English læppa (“skirt, flap of a garment”). More at lap.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"the arms or escutcheon of France , hanging by a label on an oak"
— a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC:
"Ere this hand, by thee to Romeo seal'd, / Shall be the label to another deed."
— c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:
"They […] 'sealed the grave, and rolled a great stone at the mouth of it' and as an ancient tradition says, bound it about with labels of iron."
— 1649, Jer[emy] Taylor, chapter 39, in The Great Exemplar of Sanctity and Holy Life According to the Christian Institution. […], London: […] R. N. for Francis Ash, […], →OCLC, (please specify |part=1 to 3):
"Where Balak met Balaam, standing as it were on his tiptoes on the very last labell of his land, to reach forth […]"
— 1650, Fuller, Pisgah, IV. i. 25:
"The flesh and skin hung down in long Collops and Labels."
— 1679, Hist. of Jetzer, section 5:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Before the garage sale, she attached a price ____ to every item.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You should read the ____ on the bottle carefully before taking any of the medicine that is inside it.