borrow
/ˈbɑɹ.oʊ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.00 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To receive money from a bank or other lender under the agreement that the lender will be paid back over time.
verb
In a subtraction, to deduct (one) from a digit of the minuend and add ten to the following digit, in order that the subtraction of a larger digit in the subtrahend from the digit in the minuend to which ten is added gives a positive result.
verb
To lend.
verb
To temporarily obtain (something) for (someone).
verb
To feign or counterfeit.
Example Sentences
- "Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend."
- "to borrow the style, manner, or opinions of another"
- "It is not hard for any man, who hath a Bible in his hands, to borrow good words and holy sayings in abundance; but to make them his own is a work of grace only from above."
- "Dryden’s form is of course borrowed from the ancients"
- "Americans, for example, call newcomers to Antarctica “fingies”, which comes from FNGs – a borrowed military abbreviation that means “Fucking New Guy”."
- "“Rosie, borrow me your look looker, I bet my lips are all. Everytime^([sic]) I eat or drink, so quick I gotta fix ’em, yet.”"
Etymology
From Middle English borwen, from Old English borgian (“to borrow, lend, pledge surety for”), from Proto-West Germanic *borgōn, from Proto-Germanic *burgōną (“to pledge, take care of”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰergʰ- (“to take care”). Cognate with Dutch borgen (“to borrow, trust”), German borgen (“to borrow, lend”), Danish borge (“to vouch”). Related to Old English beorgan (“to save, preserve”). More at bury.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈbɑɹ.oʊ/
- British English: /ˈbɒɹəʊ/
Usage
Inflected Forms
borrows (present, singular)
borrowing (participle, present)
borrowed (participle, past)
borrowed (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
borrowed (first person, past)
borrowest (archaic, present)
borrowed (past, second person)
borrowedst (archaic, past)
borroweth (archaic, present)
borrowed (past, singular)