Join free

lend

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

lend¹

  • /ˈlɛnd/ US, UK
  • /ˈlɪ̟nd/
  • /ˈlend/ ~ /ˈlɛ̝nd/ Australia

Sounds like lind (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛnd

Where it comes from

From earlier len (with excrescent -d, as in sound), from Middle English lenen, lænen, from Old English lǣnan (“to lend; give, grant, lease”), from Proto-West Germanic *laihnijan, from Proto-Germanic *laihnijaną (“to loan”), from Proto-Germanic *laihną (“loan”), from Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ- (“to leave, leave over”).

Cognate with Scots len, lend (“to lend”), West Frisian liene (“to lend, borrow, loan”), Dutch lenen (“to lend, borrow, loan”), Danish låne (“to lend, loan”), Swedish låna (“to lend, loan”), Icelandic lána (“to lend, loan”), Icelandic léna (“to grant”), Latin linquō (“quit, leave, forlet”), Ancient Greek λείπω (leípō, “leave, release”). See also loan.

verb lends · lending · lent

  1. transitive To allow to be used by someone temporarily, on condition that it or its equivalent will be returned. I will only lend you my car if you fill up the tank.
  2. intransitive To make a loan.
  3. reflexive To be suitable or applicable, to fit. Poems do not lend themselves to translation easily.
  4. To afford; to grant or furnish in general. Can you lend me some assistance?
  5. proscribed To borrow.

Similar: lease, lend, let, loan

noun

  1. dialectal, with definite article Loan (permission to borrow (something)). “But,” says Arthur, “I wouldn't be proud of your clothes, / For you've only the lend of them, as I suppose.”

lend²

  • /ˈlɛnd/ US, UK
  • /ˈlɪ̟nd/
  • /ˈlend/ ~ /ˈlɛ̝nd/ Australia

Sounds like lind (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛnd

Where it comes from

From Middle English lende (usually in plural as lendes, leendes, lyndes), from Old English lendenu, lendino (“loins”), plural of Old English lenden (“loin”), from Proto-West Germanic *landī, from Proto-Germanic *landį̄ (“loin”), from Proto-Indo-European *lendʰ- (“loin, kidney”). Cognate with Scots lend, leynd (“the loins, flank, buttocks”), Dutch lendenen (“loins, reins”), German Lenden (“loins”), Swedish länder (“loins”), Danish lænd (“loin”), Icelandic lendar (“loins”), Latin lumbus (“loin”) (whence loin),

Polish lędźwie (“loins”),

Russian ля́двея (ljádveja, “thigh, haunch”).

noun lends · leynd · leind · lind · lende

  1. UK, dialectal The lumbar region; loin.
  2. UK, dialectal The loins; flank; buttocks.

Talk about this word