loan

1 of 2

noun

ˈlōn 

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

transitive verb

: lend

loanable

ˈlō-nə-bəl 

adjective

Loan vs. Lend: Usage Guide

When English speakers first settled in North America, they brought with them loan as both a verb and a noun: one could get a loan, and one could loan a book to a friend. (The verb lend was also available, making it possible to lend a book to a friend as well.) The verb use of loan died out in Britain, but continued to be used in American English, thereby attracting some negative attention as a dialect term. Warnings against loan as a verb followed and can still be heard, but the use is perfectly standard. The verb loan is only encountered literally; one only lends a hand, never loans it.

Synonyms of loan

Verb

• lend

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

In the summer, West Ham did not anticipate spending £127m on Mateus Fernandes (£38m), Jean Clair Todibo (£33m), Mads Hermansen (£20m), El Hadji Malick Diouf (£19m), Soungoutou Magassa (£17m), Kyle Walker-Peters (free transfer), Wilson (free transfer) and Igor Julio (loan signing from Brighton). —Roshane Thomas, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2025

Dodgers and Blue Jays, sports-betting and beer, auto loans and iPhones. —Scott Simon, NPR, 25 Oct. 2025

Verb

For security, officers or deputies are loaned out from local law enforcement agencies. —Ariane Lange, Sacbee.com, 29 Oct. 2025

Costa Rican winger Kenyel Michel ($104,000) signed a 2½-year deal in August and was loaned back to Costa Rican club Alajuelense for the rest of the 2025 season. —Andy Greder, Twin Cities, 29 Oct. 2025

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

Phrases Containing loan

• bad loan
• bank loan
• bridge loan
• bridging loan
• call loan
• demand loan
• home equity loan
• home loan
• loan shark
• loan-sharking
• loan translation
• on loan
• personal loan
• savings and loan association
• student loan

Rhymes for loan

• blown
• clone
• cone
• crone
• drone
• flown
• groan
• grown
• hone
• joan
• known
• lone

Kids Definition

loan

1 of 2 noun

ˈlōn 

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

: lend sense 1

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