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borrow

/ˈbɑːroʊ//ˈbɒrəʊ/·verb
to take and use something that belongs to someone else, intending to give it back
Fig. 1 — Two open hands across a table, mine on the left.
01Definition

To borrow is to take something that is not yours for temporary use, on the understanding that you will return it: you borrow a book, money, or a tool, and the owner expects it back. The focus is on the receiver — the thing comes to you, but the bond of ownership stays with the lender, which is exactly why it has to go back. From Old English borgian, 'to give a pledge'. Do not confuse it with lend, which is the same loan seen from the giver's side. Figuratively, a writer can borrow an idea from another.

02In use
  • iMay I borrow your notes to substantiate the figures in my report?
  • iiShe borrowed a ladder from a neighbour and returned it the next morning.
  • iiiLanguages constantly borrow words from one another, then adapt them to fit.
03Collocations
  • borrow money from
  • borrow a book
  • borrow heavily
  • may I borrow
  • borrow against

Family borrower (noun) · borrowing (noun)

04Relations

=take on loan, use temporarily, draw on

≠lend, return, own

05Compared
PairThe difference
borrow vs lendyou borrow FROM someone; you lend TO someone — borrow takes in, lend gives out.
06TOEFL & IELTS

A high-frequency confusable in TOEFL/IELTS. Borrow is to take (the receiver's side); lend is to give (the owner's side). The classic error is 'can you borrow me a pen?' — there it should be lend ('can you lend me a pen?'). Borrow takes from: 'borrow something from someone'. In academic writing it also describes ideas or methods taken from another field ('the model borrows from economics').

07Asked
Is it 'borrow from' or 'borrow off'?
From is the standard preposition: 'I borrowed the ladder from a neighbour'. 'Borrow off' is heard in casual speech on both sides of the Atlantic but reads as an error in writing, and examiners treat it as one. If a person follows the verb, from is the only safe bridge.
Is 'Can I borrow' or 'May I borrow' more polite?
May is the traditionally correct permission word, but modern politeness runs on could: 'Could I borrow your pen?' outdoes both. 'Can I borrow' is fine among equals; 'may I borrow' now sounds distinctly formal. In a speaking test, could plus please is the natural register.
What is the noun for borrow?
There isn't an everyday one — the thing you borrow is a loan, from the lender's side of the fence. Borrowing works for the act ('short-term borrowing'), and finance uses the plural borrowings for a company's borrowed funds. That missing noun is a quiet reminder that English often files the transaction under the giver's word.
What does it mean when a language borrows a word?
It adopts the word from another language — English 'borrowed' karaoke from Japanese, ballet from French. Linguists call the result a loanword, and the joke writes itself: loanwords are never given back. Academic writing borrows too — 'the model borrows from economics' credits a method taken across a field's border.
What is the difference between borrow and lend?
Direction — the coin in the scene above slides toward me but never stops glowing the owner's colour: borrowing is receiving, lending is giving, one loan seen from two sides. The full rule, the 'borrow me a pen' error and the past tenses are on the borrow vs lend page in the 'Compared' list above.