loan
1 Americannoun
-
the act of lending; a grant of the temporary use of something.
the loan of a book.
-
something lent or furnished on condition of being returned, especially a sum of money lent at interest.
a $1000 loan at 10 percent interest.
verb (used with object)
-
loans,
present (3rd person singular)
-
loaned,
past participle, past
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loaning
present participle
-
to make a loan of; lend.
Will you loan me your umbrella?
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to lend (money) at interest.
verb (used without object)
-
loans,
present (3rd person singular)
-
loaned,
past participle, past
-
loaning
present participle
idioms
noun
-
a country lane; secondary road.
-
an uncultivated plot of farmland, usually used for milking cows.
noun
-
the act of lending
the loan of a car
-
-
property lent, esp money lent at interest for a period of time
-
( as modifier )
loan holder
-
-
the adoption by speakers of one language of a form current in another language
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short for loan word
-
-
lent out; borrowed
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(esp of personnel) transferred from a regular post to a temporary one elsewhere
-
verb
noun
-
a lane
-
a place where cows are milked
Usage
Sometimes mistakenly identified as an Americanism, loan1 as a verb meaning “to lend” has been used in English for nearly 800 years: Nearby villages loaned clothing and other supplies to the flood-ravaged town. The occasional objections to loan as a verb referring to things other than money, are comparatively recent. Loan is standard in all contexts but is perhaps most common in financial ones: The government has loaned money to farmers to purchase seed.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
loansimple
-
loanssimple
-
have loanedperfect
-
has loanedperfect
-
am loaningprogressive
-
are loaningprogressive
-
is loaningprogressive
-
have been loaningperfect progressive
-
has been loaningperfect progressive
Past
-
loanedsimple
-
had loanedperfect
-
was loaningprogressive
-
were loaningprogressive
-
had been loaningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of loan1
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English noun lon(e), lan(e), Old English lān, from Old Norse lān; replacing its cognate, Old English lǣn “loan, grant,” cognate with Dutch leen “loan,” German Leh(e)n “fief”; cf. lend
Origin of loan2
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English lane, lone, Old English lane, lane 1
Explanation
If you want to buy a car but don't have money, you'll need a loan: a sum of money given temporarily that must be repaid, often with interest, or an added percentage on top the original sum. You can loan money or objects. If you loan someone your car, make sure he's a good driver. You might loan your friend a sweatshirt if she's cold and doesn't have one. Expect to get both your car and your sweatshirt back. A word that is borrowed from another language is called a loanword, like the word karaoke, which is Japanese.
Vocabulary lists containing loan
Commonly Confused Words, List 1
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Achievement First 5th Grade IA 1 Words
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The Great Depression and The New Deal
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Qualifying for a home loan also has gotten harder because home prices have outpaced income growth, as the below chart from an Oct.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
Known as a debt-service coverage ratio loan, this specialized mortgage is approved based on potential rental income rather than a borrower’s wealth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
Boro saw off competition around the Championship, and in Europe, to sign the 21-year-old who impressed at Oxford United in the second tier last season, scoring 12 league goals on loan for a relegated side.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
In addition, between the 2022 and 2025 surveys, the share of families that reported being behind on loan payments sharply increased from about 12 percent to nearly 20 percent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
Made up of archaeologists and divers from France, England, and the United States, this multinational group included Frederic Dumas, on loan from Jacques Cousteau’s team of divers, and the pioneering archaeologist Honor Frost.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
The Fed suggests this may relate to the concurrent increase in interest rates for mortgages and consumer loans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
But Abramovich's team claimed that Yugraneft had been unable to repay loans of more than $30m, so lost its right over the shares.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
The state would issue bonds to fund loans to cover down payments for buyers of newly constructed homes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
The World Bank, which doesn’t use developed or developing country labels, has said it will phase out loans to China by 2031.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
Mobile home buyers were defaulting on their loans, their mobile homes were being repossessed, and the people who had lent them money were receiving fractions of the original loans.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Five of those players have since been sold or loaned out.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
Trust companies, the original “shadow banks,” had loaned buckets of money to risky businesses, real-estate speculators and stock traders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Chen said Bo, Panshi and another associate had loaned more than $2 million to the developers of an apartment complex, prompting lawsuits over unpaid debts and control of the property.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
It piled up dollars selling Americans cars and gadgets, then loaned those dollars right back by buying U.S.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
Nigro gave or loaned him books, and Regina permitted him to purchase a book now and then, whenever she had some spare cash.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
The former head of the national history museum in Bucharest, Ernest Oberländer-Târnoveanu, faced considerable domestic criticism for loaning the gold objects abroad and lost his job within days of the theft.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
The deal would involve the U.S. government loaning as much as $500 million to Spirit, and receiving warrants to take a stake in the low-cost carrier in return, the Journal said.
From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 2026
You would likely not see any money you gave him, so even loaning him money would merely start a bad habit that could be hard to break.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 21, 2026
After Vonn’s crash Sunday, Street told her own mother about loaning the gloves.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026
While it was true that everyone in the Coast Guard had to accept Navy control, her own contract was actually with the Treasury Department, which was only loaning her to the Coast Guard.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
