As a verb, to enjoy or feel pleased by someone or something. As a preposition or conjunction, it means similar to or in the same way as; informally, it is often used in speech to introduce thoughts or quoted words.
From Old English *līcian* (to please) and *gelīc* (similar), from a root meaning “body, form.” Over time, ideas of pleasing and resembling merged in the modern word.
‘Like’ does at least four jobs in modern English—comparison, enjoyment, filler, and quote marker (“I was like, no way”). That tiny word shows how spoken language loves multi-tools more than strict one-word-one-meaning rules.
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