alloy

Alloy comes from Middle French alloy/aloy, from Old French aloi, from aloiier, tracing back to Latin alligō. A parallel path runs through Middle English alayen, from Middle French allayer (a variant of allier, "to assemble, join"), from Old French allier, from Latin alligare, "to bind to, tie to," itself built from ad- ("to") plus ligare ("to bind").

Two related strands — one through aloiier, one through allier/allayer — both trace to the same Latin root meaning "to bind," converging in English as a single word for substances joined together.

It shares its Latin root, ligare ("to bind"), with allier and allayer, the Old French verbs meaning "to assemble" or "join" that fed into its history.