alignées

Alignées is the feminine plural form of aligné, an adjective in French meaning placed in a straight line or arranged in line. It can also function as the feminine plural past participle of aligner, used as an attribute. The corresponding forms are alignés (masculine plural), alignée (feminine singular), and alignement (noun).

Etymology and usage: Aligné comes from the verb aligner, itself from Old French aligner, ultimately related to Latin linea meaning line. As an adjective, aligné describes objects, people, or features that have been arranged or positioned along a line. In everyday French, common phrases include des pierres alignées (stones lined up), des immeubles alignés (buildings placed in a row), or des figurants alignés (figures standing in a line). The feminine plural alignées agrees with feminine plural nouns.

Archaeology and geography: In French-language discussions of megalithic sites and urban layouts, alignées frequently appear in descriptive passages about rows of standing stones or structures arranged along streets or horizons. While the noun alignements is the standard term for a linear series of stones or monuments, alignées may be used as the descriptive attribute for the individual elements or the stones themselves, e.g., pierres alignées.

See also: aligner, alignement, aligné.

In sum, alignées is a gendered form used to describe things that are placed in a line or have been aligned, most commonly as a modifier for feminine plural nouns, and is closely related to the verbs and nouns around alignment in French.