usurer

usurer

English

Etymology

Anglo-Norman, from Old French usurier, Latin ūsūra (“interest”).

Compare usurper and use

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈjuːʒəɹə/, /ˈjuːzjəɹə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈjuːʒəɹəɹ/, /ˈjuːʒɹəɹ/[1]

• Audio (US)

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Noun

usurer (plural usurers)

1. A person who loans money to others and charges interest, particularly at an illegal, exorbitant, or unfair rate.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 4”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, OCLC 216596634:

     Profitless usurer, why dost thou use
     So great a sum of sums, yet canst not live?

   • 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter XLIII, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, OCLC 1049770437; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, OCLC 20350211:

     "You can go to the Carpetbag usurers if you want money."

Synonyms

• banker, loan shark

Hyponyms

• saraf (early modern Middle East & India), shroff (early modern India & SE Asia)

Related terms

• usuress (rare)
• usurial
• usurious
• usury

Translations

one who loans money at exorbitant interest rates

Azerbaijani: müamiləçi, sələmçi Bulgarian: лихвар (bg) f (lihvar) Chinese: Mandarin: 高利貸／高利贷 (zh) (gāolìdài) Czech: lichvář (cs) m Danish: ågerkarl c Dutch: woekeraar (nl) m, woekeraarster (nl) f Esperanto: (♂♀) uzuranto, (explicitly ♂) viruzuranto, (♀) uzurantino, (♂♀) uzuristo, (explicitly ♂) viruzuristo, (♀) uzuristino, (♂♀) uzurulo, (explicitly ♂) viruzurulo, (♀) uzurulino, (♂♀) procentegisto, (explicitly ♂) virprocentegisto, (♀) procentegistino, (♂♀) procentegulo, (explicitly ♂) virprocentegulo, (♀) procentegulino Finnish: koronkiskuri (fi) French: usurier (fr) m, usurière (fr) f Galician: usureiro m, usureira f Georgian: მევახშე (mevaxše) German: Wucherer (de) m, Wucherin (de) f, Kredithai (de) m, Zinswucherer m Greek: τοκογλύφος (el) m or f (tokoglýfos) Hungarian: uzsorás (hu) Indonesian: rentenir (id) Italian: usuraio (it) m, usuraia f, strozzino (it) m, strozzina (it) f Japanese: 高利貸し (ja) (こうりがし, kōrigashi) Latin: toculiō m, danista m Macedonian: лихвар m (lihvar) Maori: kaiwhakatuputupu moni Norwegian: Bokmål: ågerkar (no) m, ågerkarl m Nynorsk: ågerkar m Polish: lichwiarz (pl) m Portuguese: usurário (pt) m, usureiro m, agiota (pt) m or f Romanian: cămătar (ro) m, cămătăreasă (ro) f, uzurar (ro) m (dated) Russian: ростовщи́к (ru) m (rostovščík), ростовщи́ца (ru) f (rostovščíca), (dated) проце́нтщик (ru) m (procéntščik), проце́нтщица (ru) f (procéntščica) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: лихвар m Roman: lihvar (sh) m Slovak: úžerník m Spanish: usurero (es) m, usurera (es) f Swedish: ockrare (sv) c Tagalog: buwayang-lubog, buwaya sa katihan Turkish: tefeci (tr), (obsolete) murabahacı (tr) Ukrainian: лихва́р m (lyxvár), лихва́рка f (lyxvárka) Volapük: (♂♀) vukan (vo), (♂) hivukan, (♀) jivukan

References

1. “usurer”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Anagrams

• rusure

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Middle English

Noun

usurer

1. Alternative form of usurere

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Swedish

Noun

usurer

1. indefinite plural of usur.