What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

What is the difference between borrow and loan?

borrow | loan |

As verbs the difference between borrow and loan

is that borrow is to receive (something) from somebody temporarily, expecting to return it while loan is to lend (something) to (someone).

As nouns the difference between borrow and loan

is that borrow is (golf) deviation of the path of a rolling ball from a straight line; slope; slant or borrow can be (archaic) a ransom; a pledge or guarantee while loan is (banking|finance) a sum of money or other valuables or consideration that an individual, group or other legal entity borrows from another individual, group or legal entity (the latter often being a financial institution) with the condition that it be returned or repaid at a later date (sometimes with interest).

borrow

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) borwen, .

Alternative forms

* boro (Jamaican English)

Verb

(en verb)
  • To receive (something) from somebody temporarily, expecting to return it.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=71, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= End of the peer show , passage=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 adopt (an idea) as one's own.
  • to borrow the style, manner, or opinions of another
  • * Macaulay
  • rites borrowed from the ancients
  • * Milton
  • 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.
  • (linguistics) To adopt a word from another language.
  • (arithmetic) 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.
  • (proscribed) To lend.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1951, year_published=1998, publisher=University of Wisconsin Press
  • , editor=James P. Leary, author=The Grenadiers, section=Milwaukee Talk, isbn=9780299160340, page=56 , title= Wisconsin Folklore , passage=“Rosie, borrow me your look looker, I bet my lips are all. Everytime I eat or drink, so quick I gotta fix ’em, yet.”}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=2005, publisher=Trafford Publishing, author=Gladys Blyth
  • , title= Summer at the Cannery , isbn=9781412025362, page=83 , passage=“Ryan, borrow me your lunch pail so we can fill it with blueberries. Susie can make us a pie.”}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=2006, publisher=Andres Rueda, author=Andrés Rueda, section=Chapter 13
  • , title= The Clawback , isbn=9781419647680, page=131 , passage=Georgi reached for his empty pockets. “Can you borrow me your telephone?”}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=2007, publisher=Lulu.com, author=Silvia Cecchini
  • , title= Bach Flowers Fairytales , isbn=9781847533203, page=7 , passage=“Gaia, could you borrow me your pencils ,(SIC) today, if you do not use them?”}}
  • To temporarily obtain (something) for (someone).
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • To feign or counterfeit.
  • * Spenser
  • borrowed hair
  • * Shakespeare
  • the borrowed majesty of England
    Synonyms
    * (adopt) adopt, use
    Antonyms
    * (receive temporarily) give back (exchanging the transfer of ownership), lend (exchanging the owners), return (exchanging the transfer of ownership) * (in arithmetic) carry (the equivalent reverse procedure in the inverse operation of addition)
    Derived terms
    * borrowed time * borrower

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (golf) Deviation of the path of a rolling ball from a straight line; slope; slant.
  • This putt has a big left-to right borrow on it.

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) borg, from (etyl) (related to Etymology 1, above).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic) A ransom; a pledge or guarantee.
  • (archaic) A surety; someone standing bail.
  • * 1819 , Walter Scott, Ivanhoe :
  • ”where am I to find such a sum? If I sell the very pyx and candlesticks on the altar at Jorvaulx, I shall scarce raise the half; and it will be necessary for that purpose that I go to Jorvaulx myself; ye may retain as borrows my two priests.”
    1000 English basic words

    loan

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) lone, lane, from (etyl) . More at (l).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (banking, finance) A sum of money or other valuables or consideration that an individual, group or other legal entity borrows from another individual, group or legal entity (the latter often being a financial institution) with the condition that it be returned or repaid at a later date (sometimes with interest).
  • *
  • , title=The Mirror and the Lamp , chapter=2 citation , passage=That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans . Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.}}
  • The contract and array of legal or ethical obligations surrounding a loan.
  • The permission to borrow any item.
  • Hypernyms
    * (something that a legal entity borrows) bailment
    Hyponyms
    * (something that a legal entity borrows) mutuum
    Derived terms
    * bridge loan * caveat loan * loan shark * low-doc loan * swing loan

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To lend (something) to (someone).
  • * 2006: — (unidentified episode, but frequently heard from her as a verb)
  • When you loan somebody something, they have the responsibility to safeguard it.
    Usage notes
    * This usage, once widespread in the UK, is now confined to the US (or perhaps parts thereof). * It is often considered preferable to use lend when the object being loaned or lent is something other than money.

    Etymology 2

    See lawn.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (Scotland) A lonnen.
  • (Webster 1913)

    Anagrams

    * ----