learn
/lɝn/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: 5.17 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To attend a course or other educational activity.
verb
To gain knowledge from a bad experience so as to improve.
verb
To study.
verb
To teach.
name
A surname from Scottish Gaelic.
Example Sentences
- "It's time Dad learned (how) to change the oil in the car."
- "In my latest job, I've learnt to keep my mouth shut more than in the last one."
- "Toddlers learn to walk at around one year old."
- "a school in which he learns sly circumvention"
- "I was very impressed with the obvious amount of work that went into the learning and synchronization of such a complex and harmonically and difficult score."
- "I have learned far more from them about how to be a scientist than they realize. Above all else, they taught me the virtues of proper waterfowl alignment."
Etymology
From Middle English lernen (“to learn", also, "to teach"”), from Old English leornian (“to learn", rarely also, "to teach”), from Proto-West Germanic *liʀnōn, from Proto-Germanic *lizaną, from Proto-Indo-European *(le-)lóys-e, stative from the root *leys- (“track, furrow, trace, trail”). The spelling with ⟨ea⟩ is of Early Modern English origin and reflects a lengthening of /ɛ~e/ to /eː/ before /rn/ in Late Old English or Early Middle English, then later lowering to /ɛː/; the modern pronunciation reflects still later reshortening. Cognate with Old Frisian lernia, lerna (“to learn”), Middle Low German lernen (“to learn", also, "to teach”), Middle Dutch leernen (“to learn", also, "to teach”) (whence Dutch lernen (“to study scripture”)), German lernen (“to learn”). See also lore and lear.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: lernen, leornian, *liʀnōn, *lizaną
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /lɝn/
- British English: /lɜːn/
Inflected Forms
learns (present, singular)
learning (participle, present)
learned (participle, past)
learned (past)
learnt (participle, past)
learnt (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
learned (first person, past)
learnest (archaic, present)
learned (past, second person)
learnedst (archaic, past)