loan

1 of 2

noun

1
a
: money lent at interest
took out a loan to pay for the new car
b
: something lent usually for the borrower's temporary use
2
a
: the grant of temporary use
Can I have the loan of your car?
b
: the temporary duty of a person transferred to another job for a limited time
He had been on loan to the navy during the war.
3
: loanword
The word "nosh" is a loan from Yiddish.

loan

2 of 2

verb

loaned; loaning; loans
loanable adjective
Loan vs. Lend: Usage Guide

The verb loan is one of the words English settlers brought to America and continued to use after it had died out in Britain. Its use was soon noticed by British visitors and somewhat later by the New England literati, who considered it a bit provincial. It was flatly declared wrong in 1870 by a popular commentator, who based his objection on etymology. A later scholar showed that the commentator was ignorant of Old English and thus unsound in his objection, but by then it was too late, as the condemnation had been picked up by many other commentators. Although a surprising number of critics still voice objections, loan is entirely standard as a verb. You should note that it is used only literally; lend is the verb used for figurative expressions, such as "lending a hand" or "lending enchantment."

Examples of loan in a Sentence

Noun He got a car loan. He'll need several more years to pay off the rest of the loan. She needed money, so she asked her friend for a loan. Verb The National Gallery has been kind enough to loan this painting to our museum. His mother loaned him the money to buy a new car. Can you loan me $20?
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
With more than 500 French cannon pointed at the capital, President Jean-Pierre Boyer agreed — and immediately took out a loan from a Parisian bank to cover the initial payment. Matthew Brown, Washington Post, 24 Mar. 2024 The $535,000 monthly lease payments were designed to service a $92 million loan CGA Capital had made to Cisterra Development. Jeff McDonald, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Mar. 2024 The situation grew so dire that governors in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin announced businesses impacted by drought may be eligible for loans from the Small Business Administration. Whitney Wild, CNN, 23 Mar. 2024 Shannon Beador 'Blindsided' as Boyfriend John Janssen Ends Their Romance, 3½ Years Into Dating In both instances, Janssen claims in the docs, Beador agreed to pay back the loan with interest. Dave Quinn, Peoplemag, 22 Mar. 2024 The original loan documents filed in April 2021 stated that the loan was scheduled to mature on April 9. George Avalos, The Mercury News, 21 Mar. 2024 The qualifying credit score for most conventional loans is 620, according to Rocket Mortgage. Sydney Lake, Fortune, 21 Mar. 2024 Singh did grant some of Trump's requests, including pausing a three-year ban on him seeking loans from New York banks. Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 19 Mar. 2024 Payments on undergraduate loans will be capped at 5% of discretionary income, down from 10% now. Adriana Morga, Fortune, 11 Mar. 2024
Verb
Concrete business owner David Taylor has loaned his own campaign $1.7 million, while Larry Kidd, who owns a hiring agency, has invested $1.3 million in the race. Nathaniel Rakich, ABC News, 18 Mar. 2024 Shaw loaned them in 2005 to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Steve Karnowski and Jim Salter, USA TODAY, 18 Mar. 2024 During Blau’s tenure, the state attorney general had investigated Integral, ultimately accusing it in 2015 of improperly loaning its executives hundreds of thousands of dollars while wards sat unnecessarily in nursing homes. Jake Pearson, ProPublica, 12 Mar. 2024 The former mayor has been known to be a prolific fundraiser — and, unlike either of his likely competitors, has not loaned his campaign any money. Grace Hase, The Mercury News, 7 Mar. 2024 The foundation loaned out the great majority of the vehicles featured in the exhibition. Brett Berk, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Mar. 2024 Councilmember Raj Chahal donated $500 to the committee, and Councilmember Suds Jain loaned it $2,000 late last year, accounting for most of the Yes on Measure B contributions. Grace Hase, The Mercury News, 7 Mar. 2024 Introduced in 2021, Gemini’s Earn program let customers loan their cryptocurrency to the crypto brokerage Genesis Global Capital while receiving interest. Emma Roth, The Verge, 29 Feb. 2024 Out of that humble headquarters, People Trust has loaned more than $63 million to approximately 6,600 people, in amounts ranging from $500 to $120,000. Lenwood V. Long, Sr., Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'loan.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English lone "something lent or owing, divine gift," borrowed from Old Norse lán "something lent, fief," going back to Germanic *laihna- "something granted or lent" (whence also Old Frisian lēn "fief, benefice, something lent," Old Saxon lēhan "gift, fief," Old High German lēhan, lēn "something lent, feudal tenure, benefice," and, from a variant *laihni-, Old English lǣn "something lent, grant, gift"), noun derivative from the verb *līhwan- "to grant, lend" — more at delinquent entry 2

Note: Germanic *laihna- appears directly comparable with the Indo-Iranian s-stem represented by Vedic Sanskrit rékṇaḥ "inheritance, property," Avestan raēxənah- "inheritance," though it is uncertain if the Germanic word can also be derived from an s-stem. See note at delinquent entry 2.

Verb

derivative of loan entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

circa 1543, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of loan was in the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near loan

Cite this Entry

“Loan.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/loan. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

loan

1 of 2 noun
1
a
: money lent at interest
b
: something lent for a limited time
2
: permission to use something for a time

loan

2 of 2 verb

Legal Definition

loan

noun
1
a
: money lent at interest
b
: something lent usually for the borrower's temporary use
2
: a transfer or delivery of money from one party to another with the express or implied agreement that the sum will be repaid regardless of contingency and usually with interest
broadly : the furnishing of something to another party for temporary use with the agreement that it or its equivalent will be returned
the leasing of the car was termed a loan
bridge loan
: a short-term loan used as a means of financing a purchase or enterprise prior to obtaining other funds used a bridge loan to purchase a new home prior to the sale of the old one
conventional loan
: a loan for the purchase of real property that is secured by a first mortgage on the property rather than by any federal agency
demand loan
: a loan that is subject to repayment upon demand of the lender
home equity loan
: a loan or line of credit secured by the equity in one's home

called also equity loan, home equity line, home equity line of credit

see also qualified residence interest at interest sense 5
loan for consumption \ -​kən-​ˈsümp-​shən \
: a loan in which the borrower is obligated to return property of the same kind as that borrowed and consumed used chiefly in the civil law of Louisiana ; compare bailment, deposit, loan for use in this entry
loan for use
: a loan in which one party lends personal property to another with the understanding that the borrower will return the same property at a future time without compensation for its use : commodatum used chiefly in the civil law of Louisiana ; compare bailment, deposit, loan for consumption in this entry
participation loan
: a single loan in which two or more lenders participate
term loan
: a loan extended to a business with provisions for repayment according to a schedule of amortization and usually for a period of one to five years and sometimes fifteen years

More from Merriam-Webster on loan

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