Borrow in Different Languages
Discover 'Borrow' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Borrow
Afrikaans leen | ||
Albanian huazoj | ||
Amharic መበደር | ||
Arabic اقتراض | ||
Armenian փոխառել | ||
Assamese ধাৰ কৰা | ||
Aymara mayt'atañ mayiña | ||
Azerbaijani borc almaq | ||
Bambara ka singa | ||
Basque mailegatu | ||
Belarusian пазычаць | ||
Bengali ধার | ||
Bhojpuri उधार मांगल | ||
Bosnian pozajmiti | ||
Bulgarian взимам на заем | ||
Catalan demanar prestat | ||
Cebuano manghulam | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 借 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 借 | ||
Corsican imprestà | ||
Croatian posuditi | ||
Czech půjčit si | ||
Danish låne | ||
Dhivehi އަނބުރާ ދޭގޮތަށް ނެގުން | ||
Dogri दुहार | ||
Dutch lenen | ||
English borrow | ||
Esperanto prunti | ||
Estonian laenama | ||
Ewe do nu | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) humiram | ||
Finnish lainata | ||
French emprunter | ||
Frisian liene | ||
Galician pedir prestado | ||
Georgian სესხება | ||
German leihen | ||
Greek δανείζομαι | ||
Guarani poru | ||
Gujarati ઉધાર | ||
Haitian Creole prete | ||
Hausa ara | ||
Hawaiian ʻaiʻē | ||
Hebrew לִלווֹת | ||
Hindi उधार | ||
Hmong qiv | ||
Hungarian kölcsön | ||
Icelandic láni | ||
Igbo ibiri | ||
Ilocano buloden | ||
Indonesian meminjam | ||
Irish fháil ar iasacht | ||
Italian prestito | ||
Japanese かりて | ||
Javanese nyilih | ||
Kannada ಎರವಲು | ||
Kazakh қарыз алу | ||
Khmer ខ្ចី | ||
Kinyarwanda kuguza | ||
Konkani उश्णे | ||
Korean 빌다 | ||
Krio lɛnt | ||
Kurdish deyngirtin | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) وەرگرتن | ||
Kyrgyz карыз алуу | ||
Lao ກູ້ຢືມ | ||
Latin horum mutuo postulaverit | ||
Latvian aizņemties | ||
Lingala kodefa | ||
Lithuanian skolintis | ||
Luganda okweewola | ||
Luxembourgish léinen | ||
Macedonian позајми | ||
Maithili उधारी | ||
Malagasy hisambotra | ||
Malay pinjam | ||
Malayalam കടം വാങ്ങുക | ||
Maltese tissellef | ||
Maori tarewa | ||
Marathi कर्ज घेणे | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯋꯥꯏꯕ | ||
Mizo hawh | ||
Mongolian зээл авах | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) ချေးယူ | ||
Nepali orrowण लिनु | ||
Norwegian låne | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) kongola | ||
Odia (Oriya) orrow ଣ | ||
Oromo ergifachuu | ||
Pashto پور اخستل | ||
Persian امانت گرفتن | ||
Polish pożyczać | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) pedir emprestado | ||
Punjabi ਉਧਾਰ | ||
Quechua manuy | ||
Romanian împrumuta | ||
Russian заимствовать | ||
Samoan nono | ||
Sanskrit उद्धारग्रहणम् | ||
Scots Gaelic iasad | ||
Sepedi adima | ||
Serbian позајмити | ||
Sesotho alima | ||
Shona kukwereta | ||
Sindhi قرض وٺڻ | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) ණයට ගන්න | ||
Slovak požičať | ||
Slovenian sposoditi si | ||
Somali deynsasho | ||
Spanish pedir prestado | ||
Sundanese nginjeum | ||
Swahili azima | ||
Swedish låna | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) manghiram | ||
Tajik қарз гирифтан | ||
Tamil கடன் வாங்க | ||
Tatar заем | ||
Telugu రుణం తీసుకోండి | ||
Thai ยืม | ||
Tigrinya ተለቃሕ | ||
Tsonga lomba | ||
Turkish ödünç almak | ||
Turkmen karz alyň | ||
Twi (Akan) bɔ besea | ||
Ukrainian позичати | ||
Urdu ادھار | ||
Uyghur قەرز ئېلىش | ||
Uzbek qarz olish | ||
Vietnamese vay | ||
Welsh benthyg | ||
Xhosa mboleka | ||
Yiddish באָרגן | ||
Yoruba yawo | ||
Zulu ukuboleka |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The Afrikaans word "leen" is derived from the Middle Dutch word "leen," which also means "loan" or "fiefdom." |
| Albanian | The word "huazoj" in Albanian also means "to request" or "to ask for something".} |
| Amharic | The word "መበደር" ("borrow") in Amharic evolved from the Ge'ez term "በዳር" ("to take something on loan"). |
| Arabic | The word "اقتراض" (borrow) comes from the Arabic root قرض (qard), which means "to cut" or "to divide", as borrowing involves taking a portion of something from someone else. |
| Armenian | The Armenian word "փոխառել" can also mean "to receive something back after giving it to someone temporarily". |
| Azerbaijani | In Azerbaijani, "borc almaq" ultimately descends from the Old Turkic verb "borčla". It originally meant "to have a debt" or "to be obliged". |
| Basque | The root word “hile” in Mailegatu (meaning borrow in Basque) can also mean to cheat, deceive, or take advantage. |
| Belarusian | The word 'пазычаць' ('borrow') is derived from the Proto-Slavic word 'paziti' ('to care for'), which is also the root of the Russian word 'забота' ('care'). |
| Bengali | The word "ধার" in Bengali also means "edge" or "sharpness". |
| Bosnian | The word "pozajmiti" in Bosnian derives from the Old Slavic word "po" (meaning "from") and "zajam" (meaning "loan"). |
| Bulgarian | The verb 'взимам на заем' ('borrow') is a calque from the Russian 'брать взаём' ('take for mutual benefit'). |
| Catalan | demanar prestat in Catalan comes from the Latin phrase "de manu praestare," which means to give or provide something from one's own hand. |
| Cebuano | "Manghulam" is likely derived from the old Malay word "hulam" or the Javanese word "hulam" which also means "borrow". |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 借 (jie) also means 'to lend' in Chinese. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | In Traditional Chinese, the character "借" ("borrow") can also refer to "a loan," "owing," "using temporarily," "pretext," "excuse," or "opportunity." |
| Corsican | The Corsican word "imprestà" also means "to lend". |
| Croatian | The verb 'posuditi' initially implied 'to lend', with 'borrow' being an extension of that meaning |
| Czech | Cognate with the Russian "požičiť" (to ask for), "půjčit si" can also mean "to lend". |
| Danish | "Låne" in Danish originally meant "lean", but now also means "lend" and "rent" |
| Dutch | "lenen" also means "to grant a loan" in Dutch. |
| Esperanto | "Prunti" also means "to receive" in the sense of getting a gift or a loan. |
| Estonian | The word "laenama" is derived from the Proto-Finnic word *laina-, which also means "debt". |
| Finnish | "Lainata" is a Finnish word that originally meant "to give" but has come to mean "to borrow" over time. |
| French | "Emprunter" originally meant "mettre en gage" (to pawn) and thus "prêter" (to lend), and has only come to mean "prendre en prêt" (to borrow) since the 13th century. |
| Frisian | "Lien" also means "lease" and is related to the English words "loan" and "lend". |
| Galician | "Pedir prestado" can also mean "beg" or "ask for alms" in Galician. |
| Georgian | "სესხება" comes from a Persian word that originally meant a loan of money with interest. |
| German | The verb "leihen" is derived from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "to give". |
| Greek | The verb 'δανείζομαι' is used in the sense of "borrow (money)" in modern Greek. However, in ancient and later Byzantine Greek it also meant "spend money" and "pay (someone)" in a more general sense |
| Gujarati | The verb 'to borrow', in the Gujarati language 'ઉધાર', derives its origin from the Sanskrit root 'uddhri', which signifies 'to raise up or elevate' or 'to deliver or save'. It also carries an alternative connotation of financial aid, wherein a lender provides money or goods on credit with an expectation of future reimbursement. |
| Haitian Creole | The word "prete" in Haitian Creole is derived from the French word "prêter," which also means "to lend." |
| Hausa | The Hausa word "ara" also means "to request" or "to beg". |
| Hawaiian | 'Aiʻē' also refers to a type of Hawaiian canoe. |
| Hebrew | The Hebrew word “לִלווֹת” can refer to both an escort during travel as well as borrowing money, sharing common root and meaning of “accompanying”. |
| Hindi | The word "उधार" (borrow) comes from the Sanskrit root "ऋण" (debt), and can also mean "credit" or "loan". |
| Hmong | The word "qiv" is originally used to refer to "exchange for the time being in order to return, as of tools", with "borrow" as its secondary meaning |
| Hungarian | "Kölcsön" in Hungarian, meaning "borrow," originally meant "exchange" and is related to the word "csere" (trade, exchange). |
| Icelandic | Láni (borrow): also used to mean "to take (something) as a loan (in order to get something else)" |
| Igbo | The word "ibiri" also connotes "to beg" in the Igbo language |
| Indonesian | The word "meminjam" is derived from the Proto-Austronesian word "*pəmsan" meaning "to ask for something". |
| Italian | "Prestito" can also mean "spell" or "incantation" in Italian, derived from Latin "praestitum" meaning "something done in advance". |
| Japanese | The verb 'かりて' derives from the noun 'かり' which means loan. |
| Javanese | The word "nyilih" in Javanese can also mean "to imitate" or "to copy". |
| Kannada | ಎರವಲು (eravalu) may have derived from the verb ಎರು (eru) meaning 'throw', with the suffix -ವಲು (-valu) indicating an action. |
| Kazakh | The Kazakh word "қарыз алу" comes from the Persian word "qarż", meaning "debt" |
| Khmer | The word ខ្ចី (khcii) is etymologically related to the verb សង (song), meaning "to pay back, to give back". |
| Korean | 빌다 is also used to refer to the process of building something or creating something new. |
| Kurdish | The verb 'deyngirtin' in Kurdish, meaning 'to borrow,' etymologically derives from the Indo-European root *deŋǵʰ-, referring to the act of grasping or taking hold of something. |
| Kyrgyz | The word "карыз алуу" can also mean "to take a loan" or "to be in debt" in Kyrgyz. |
| Lao | The Lao word "ກູ້ຢືມ" is also used as an expression for "to beg for" or "to ask for assistance" in a formal setting. |
| Latin | Latin "horum" and "mutuo" also mean "of these" and "mutually" respectively, adding nuance to "borrow" as "one of these things (books, money, tools, etc.) I have that I am willing to share with you for a while on the condition that you give it back to me later." |
| Latvian | The verb "aizņemties" is derived from the verb "ņemt" ("to take") and the prefix "aiz-" ("away"), indicating that something is taken away temporarily. |
| Lithuanian | The Lithuanian word "skolintis" is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root "*skoleh₁-", meaning "to owe" or "to be in debt." |
| Luxembourgish | The word "léinen" also means "lend" and derives from the Old French word "loaner". |
| Macedonian | The word "позајми" also means "lend" in Macedonian, a dual meaning not found in English. |
| Malagasy | "Hisambotra" is also used to mean "to steal or take someone's belongings without their permission". |
| Malay | The word "pinjam" is derived from the Proto-Austronesian word *pajam, meaning "to take something from someone for a short period of time". |
| Maltese | A possible etymology of the word is its Arabic cognate 'taslīf', where it means a loan or a draft. |
| Maori | Tarewa can also refer to a type of fishing net or a method of weaving. |
| Marathi | The word "कर्ज घेणे" in Marathi comes from the Sanskrit word "ऋण" (ṛṇa), which means "debt" or "loan". |
| Mongolian | The Mongolian word зээл авах means "to borrow", but it can also mean "to lend" or "to receive." |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | The root of the word ချေး comes from Old Mon သြေ (srei) meaning “to exchange |
| Nepali | The word "orrowण लिनु" in Nepali has Indo-Aryan and Sanskrit roots, also found in other languages like Hindi and Marathi. |
| Norwegian | The word "låne" in Norwegian also means "to lend", as in "I lend you my umbrella". |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | Kongola' can also mean 'to lend' in Nyanja. |
| Pashto | Etymology: from the Persian word "قرض" (qarz), meaning "loan" or "indebtedness." |
| Persian | In Persian, the word "امانت گرفتن" literally means "to take custody", suggesting the responsibility of returning the borrowed item. |
| Polish | The word "pożyczać" comes from the Old Polish word "pozyczyć", which meant "to lend". |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The Portuguese verb "pedir emprestado" derives from Latin "petere", meaning "to ask," and "emptus," meaning "bought" or "borrowed." |
| Punjabi | The Punjabi word 'ਉਧਾਰ' can also mean 'credit,' a 'loan,' or a 'debt'. |
| Romanian | "Împrumuta" comes from the Latin verb "promutuo" and is related to "promovere" and "pro" (forward) and "mutare" (to move). |
| Russian | The Russian word "заимствовать" also has the alternate meaning of "to learn (a language, from someone)". |
| Samoan | The word 'nono' in Samoan can also mean 'to take without permission'. |
| Scots Gaelic | The word "iasad" can also refer to a "loan", "debt" or "credit" in various contexts within Scots Gaelic. |
| Serbian | The verb позајмити, also implies to lend, just like the French verb prêter can. |
| Sesotho | Alima also refers to a request from a senior individual to a junior who is then not allowed to refuse. |
| Shona | Kukwereta, meaning "to borrow", is also the Shona word for a type of basket made from woven reeds. |
| Sindhi | The Sindhi word "قرض وٺڻ" also means "to be indebted". |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | Also means obtain on credit and buy on hire-purchase. |
| Slovak | Some of the Slavic languages derive their word for borrow from an old root for "take" or "receive". |
| Slovenian | The word "sposoditi si" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *sodъ, meaning "court" or "judgment. |
| Somali | "Deynsasho" in Somali has the additional meaning of "receiving a gift that is expected to be returned later." |
| Spanish | The verb "pedir prestado" can also mean "to ask for a loan" or "to request something on loan." |
| Sundanese | "Nginjeum" derives from the word "injeum" meaning "to drink" in Old Sundanese, but later took on the meaning of "borrow" because, in the past, people often borrowed things by offering them a drink as a form of payment. |
| Swahili | The word "azima" can also refer to a loan or a debt, and it is derived from the Arabic word "azm," which means "intention" or "determination." |
| Swedish | Swedish låna, German leihen, and English loan likely come from an ancient Germanic root meaning 'set low'. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The word 'manghiram' can also be used to mean 'to ask for a favor' or 'to invite someone over'. |
| Tajik | The word "қарз гирифтан" is a Persian loanword in Tajik, and is used in both the literal sense of "to borrow" as well as the idiomatic sense of "to get into debt". |
| Tamil | கடன் வாங்க is a phrase that means 'to borrow' in Tamil, and it can also be used to refer to 'debt' or 'loan'. |
| Thai | The word "ยืม" also means "to lend" in Thai, as the act of borrowing and lending are two sides of the same coin. |
| Turkish | The word "ödünç almak" also has the meaning of "to take on loan" in Turkish. |
| Ukrainian | The word "позичати" comes from the Proto-Slavic word *posъdъ*, meaning "to send, to put down." |
| Uzbek | The word "qarz olish" in Uzbek is derived from the Persian word "qarz", meaning "debt". It can also refer to the act of lending money. |
| Vietnamese | The word "vay" in Vietnamese has various other meanings, including "to request assistance" and "to seek protection." |
| Welsh | In Welsh, 'benthyg' can also be used as a noun to refer to an annual rent or fee, and in older texts it could mean a loan of goods. |
| Xhosa | "Mboleka" in Xhosa can also refer to the act of asking or requesting something as a loan. |
| Yiddish | "באָרגן" can also mean "to trust" or "to rely on". |
| Yoruba | The Yoruba word "yawo" also means "to travel" or "to wander". |
| Zulu | Ukuboleka is also used in the context of borrowing concepts or ideas. |
| English | "Borrow" derives from the Old English word "borgian", meaning "to give security" or "to go security for." |