owe

verb

ˈō 

owed; owing

transitive verb

1

a(1)

: to be under obligation to pay or repay in return for something received : be indebted in the sum of

owes me $5

(2)

: to be under obligation to render (something, such as duty or service)

I owe you a favor.

A lawyer owes her client legal advice.

b

: to be indebted to

owes the grocer for supplies

2

: to be indebted for

owed his wealth to his father

owes much to good luck

3

a

: to have or bear (an emotion or attitude) to someone or something

owes the boss a grudge

owes his friend an apology

They owe allegiance to their country.

Children owe their parents respect.

b

archaic : possess, own

intransitive verb

1

: to be in debt

owes for his house

2

: to be attributable

an idea that owes to Greek philosophy

Phrases

owe it

: to have a responsibility to do something to satisfy an obligation or duty

owes it to voters to explain his reasons

… I owed it to her to give her this opportunity …

—Colin MacIness

Examples of owe in a Sentence

We owe no income tax.

I owe the bank a lot of money.

Additional payments are owed on the mortgage.

I still owe on the car.

I owe you a drink.

I owe you my thanks.

She still owes me for all the times I've helped her out.

Recent Examples on the Web

And those who graduated with debt were more likely to say that their degree was not worth it than those who graduated without owing money — 41% versus 31%, respectively. —Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 25 Apr. 2025

For example, suppose an individual owes $10,000 as of April 15, 2025. —Cindy McGhee, Forbes.com, 24 Apr. 2025

But with inflation expectations also rising, owing largely to higher tariffs, the Federal Reserve could face a tough choice between trying to boost economic activity while trying to keep inflation at bay. —Russ Wiles, USA Today, 24 Apr. 2025

He was released two years early in 2022 but still owes $26 million in restitution. —Rachel Treisman, NPR, 24 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English aghen, aughen, ouen, ouwen "to have, possess, own, owe (money, a debt), be obligated to render, be supposed to, ought," going back to Old English āgan (1st &3rd singular present tense āh, āg, plural āgon, past tense āhte, past participle āgen) "to possess, own, have, come into possession of, have as an obligation," going back to Germanic *aigan- "to possess" (whence also Old Frisian āga, ēga "to possess, be obligated to," Old Saxon ēgan "to have, possess," Middle Dutch eigen, Old High German eigan, Old Icelandic eiga, Gothic aigan), going back to a reduplicated perfect *He-Hói̯ḱ-/He-Hiḱ- of an Indo-European verbal base *Heiḱ- "appropriate, acquire," whence also Sanskrit ī́śe "(s/he) owns, possesses, is master of," Avestan ise "(s/he) is lord over," and perhaps Tocharian B aik- "know, recognize" (assuming a shift in sense from physical possession to mental possession)

Note: Old English āgan was a preterit-present verb, as were the modal auxiliaries which survive in Modern English as can entry 1, shall, must entry 1, may;1, etc. In Middle English the weak past tense forms oȝte, oughte, etc., descended from Old English āhte, gradually lost tense reference and transitioned to an independent modal verb, continued into Modern English as ought entry 1. (The original senses "owe" and "own, possess" survived longer in Scots ought, aucht, aicht, etc.—see ought entry 2.) As this occurred, a regularized past tense and participle oued appeared. The sense "be obligated to pay, owe" and more generally "be obliged to, have to" arose already in Old English: in the Lindisfarne Gospels agan to gyldenne "have (something) to pay" was used to gloss Latin dēbēre "to be obliged to render, owe"—hence redde quod debes "pay me that thou owest" (Matthew 18:28, KJV) was rendered "geld [money] þæt ðu aht to geldanne." (An edition of the Old English Gospels based on the Corpus Christi College, Cambridge manuscript has "Agyf þæt þu me scealt," using a form of the modal verb sceal shall to render dēbēre). This semantic shift is parallel to that of have, by which "to have something to do" is in effect reanalyzed as "to have to do something." — Compare also own entry 1.

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 3b

Phrases Containing owe

• owe a debt of gratitude/thanks to
• owe it to
• owe it to oneself
• owe (someone) one
• owe them a debt of gratitude

Rhymes for owe

• beau
• beaux
• blow
• boe
• bro
• coe
• crow
• doe
• doh
• dough
• eau
• eaux

Kids Definition

owe

verb

ˈō 

owed; owing

1

a

: to be obligated to pay or repay

owes me $5

b

: to be indebted to

owes the grocer for supplies

c

: to be in debt

owes for her house

2

: to have or possess as something obtained from or given to

owes much to good luck