Borrowing

How to spell borrowing

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce borrowing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does borrowing mean?

1. nounThe act of taking or receiving something on the understanding that it will be returned or repaid.
2. nounA word or feature adopted by one language from another.

Borrowing in a sentence

• The council relies on heavy borrowing to fund its new road scheme.

• The word 'café' is a French borrowing that English now uses freely.

• Household borrowing rose sharply after interest rates were cut.

• The textbook lists one Japanese borrowing that entered English in the last century.

Where does borrowing come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grows from the Old English verb borgian, which meant 'to lend' or 'to stand as surety for a debt', so its earliest sense was the reverse of the one we now stress. The root sits in the Germanic family alongside the word 'borh', meaning a pledge or security, and the underlying idea was that something received was guaranteed by a promise to return it. Over the centuries the everyday meaning settled on taking something temporarily, with the understanding that it would be given back. The noun 'borrowing', formed by adding the familiar -ing ending, names either the act itself or the very thing that has been taken on loan. The same family of meaning lies behind the modern noun 'borrower', and the close relationship to the idea of a pledge explains why borrowing has always carried a sense of obligation.

How the word is built

• borrow (from Old English borgian: to lend, to be surety)
• -ing (noun/verb suffix)