loan
1 Americannoun
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the act of lending; a grant of the temporary use of something.
the loan of a book.
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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)
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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)
idioms
noun
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a country lane; secondary road.
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an uncultivated plot of farmland, usually used for milking cows.
noun
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the act of lending
the loan of a car
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property lent, esp money lent at interest for a period of time
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( as modifier )
loan holder
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the adoption by speakers of one language of a form current in another language
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short for loan word
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lent out; borrowed
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(esp of personnel) transferred from a regular post to a temporary one elsewhere
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verb
noun
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a lane
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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
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loansimple
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loanssimple
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have loanedperfect
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has loanedperfect
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am loaningprogressive
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are loaningprogressive
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is loaningprogressive
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have been loaningperfect progressive
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has been loaningperfect progressive
Past
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loanedsimple
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had loanedperfect
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was loaningprogressive
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were loaningprogressive
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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.
“Some borrowers won’t get the notifications until mid-July, August, sometime like that,” said Scott Buchanan, the executive director of the Student Loan Servicing Alliance, a trade group.
From MarketWatch • Jul. 1, 2026
Loan growth is showing better momentum in commercial, but not personal banking, he adds.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026
Leveraged Loan index, a measure of credit health, has also started to recover, says Wedbush analyst Henry Coffey.
From Barron's • May 21, 2026
If you need support, contact the government agency, Stop Loan Sharks, or go to BBC Action Line.
From BBC • May 7, 2026
Downtown was left with the little branch of the Michigan Savings and Loan where my mom worked, the doughnut hole, the two-screen Royal Cinema, Burton’s pharmacy, a pawnshop and, of course, Hank’s T-Shirt Shack.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
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.
