borrowing

borrowing

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

borrowing

1. present participle of borrow

   She is borrowing my pen.

2. (slang, crime) Slang term for shoplifting.

Noun

borrowing (countable and uncountable, plural borrowings)

1. An instance of something being borrowed.
   • January 1834, Horace Binney, Speech on the Question of the Removal of the Deposites

     Subscriptions, borrowings of money, taxings of the citizens and their property, may all be valid, as operations by virtue of laws for the government of the City […]

2. (linguistics) A borrowed word, adopted from a foreign language; loanword.

Derived terms

• false borrowing
• learned borrowing
• pseudo-borrowing
• reborrowing
• semantic borrowing
• semi-learned borrowing

 

Translations

loanword — see loanword