Lending

How to spell lending

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce lending

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does lending mean?

1. nounThe activity of granting money or goods to someone on the understanding that they will be returned or repaid.

Lending in a sentence

• The bank tightened its lending criteria after the downturn.

• Lending money to relatives can put a strain on family ties.

Where does lending come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grows from the verb 'lend', which traces back to the Old English lænan, meaning 'to grant something on the understanding that it will be returned'. That verb was itself built on the noun lǣn, meaning 'a loan' or 'a grant', and it belongs to the same Germanic family that gave us the modern word 'loan'. The final 'd' in 'lend' was not there originally; it crept into the spelling and pronunciation over the medieval period, much as it did in 'sound' and 'spend', through a habit of adding a 'd' after 'n'. The form 'lending' is simply that verb carrying the -ing ending, used either as a present participle or as a noun naming the activity itself. Because the base already ends in 'nd', no consonant is doubled when -ing is added, which keeps the spelling refreshingly regular.

How the word is built

• lend (Old English lænan: to grant temporarily)
• -ing (gerund/participle suffix)