borrowing
noun · verb
Form of borrow , present participle of borrow.
Simple meaning
A borrowed word, adopted from a foreign language.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
bahrohingSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɑɹoʊɪŋ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An instance of something being borrowed.
linguistics
A borrowed word, adopted from a foreign language; loanword.
verb
present participle of borrow
Get temporarily
“May I borrow your lawn mower?”
present participle of borrow
To receive (something) from somebody temporarily, expecting to return it.
slangcrimeeuphemistic
Shoplifting.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An instance of something being borrowed.
Used this way, borrowing is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use borrowing
- “The borrowing of ancient motifs was very apparent.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Someone who receives something on the promise to return it or its equivalent.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The cost of borrowing something.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.