Owe vs Earn - What's the difference?
owe | earn |
To be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone.
*1854 , Dickens, Hard Times , Chapter 7:
*:He inherited a fair fortune from his uncle, but owed it all before he came into it, and spent it twice over immediately afterwards.
To have debt, to be in debt.
(lb) To gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work.
:
*
*:Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations. It is easily earned repetition to state that Josephine St. Auban's was a presence not to be concealed.
*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 12, work=BBC Sport
, title= (lb) To receive payment for work.
:
:(rfex)
(lb) To receive payment for work.
:
(lb) To cause (someone) to receive payment or reward.
:
(lb) To be worthy of.
:
(obsolete) To long; to yearn.
* Spenser
(obsolete) To grieve.
As verbs the difference between owe and earn
is that owe is to be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone while earn is (lb) to gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work or earn can be (uk|dialect|dated) to curdle, as milk or earn can be (obsolete) to long; to yearn.As a noun earn is
.owe
English
Verb
(ow)Usage notes
* The original past tense form was ought, which during Middle English began to be used with indefinite signification and has become a distinct verb. The original past participle has become the adjective own.Anagrams
*earn
English
Etymology 1
Old English earnianVerb
(en verb)International friendly: England 1-0 Spain, passage=England will not be catapulted among the favourites for Euro 2012 as a result of this win, but no victory against Spain is earned easily and it is right they take great heart from their efforts as they now prepare to play Sweden at Wembley on Tuesday.}}
Synonyms
* (gain through applied effort or work) deserve, merit, garner, win * * * (cause someone to receive payment or reward) yield, make, generate, renderDerived terms
* earner * earnings * earn one's keepEtymology 2
Anglo-Saxon irnan to run. See rennet, and compare yearnings.Etymology 3
Verb
(en verb)- And ever as he rode, his heart did earn / To prove his puissance in battle brave.