Standard Lemma guide

borrower

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈbɔɹəʊə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˈbɑɹoʊɚ/
  • CMU ARPABET: B AA1 R OW0 ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

One who borrows.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • a library borrower’s card

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

someone who receives something on the promise to return it or its equivalent

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: lender

Broader terms: recipient, receiver

Narrower terms: freeloader

History

Etymology

From Middle English borower, borewer, borwere, equivalent to borrow + -er (agent suffix).

Across languages

Translations

92 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: huamarrës — one who borrows
  • Arabic: مُسْتَعِير (mustaʕīr) — one who borrows
  • Arabic: مُسْتَعِيرَة (mustaʕīra) — one who borrows
  • Arabic: مُقْتَرِض (muqtariḍ) — one who borrows
  • Arabic: مُقْتَرِضَة (muqtariḍa) — one who borrows
  • Armenian: վարկառու (varkaṙu) — one who borrows
  • Azerbaijani: borcalan — one who borrows
  • Belarusian: пазыча́льнік (pazyčálʹnik) — one who borrows
  • Belarusian: пазыча́льніца (pazyčálʹnica) — one who borrows
  • Bulgarian: заемополуча́тел (zaemopolučátel) — one who borrows
  • Catalan: manllevador — one who borrows
  • Chinese Mandarin: 借款人 (jièkuǎnrén) — one who borrows
  • Chinese Mandarin: 借用人 (jièyòngrén) — one who borrows
  • Czech: vypůjčovatel — one who borrows
  • Czech: vypůjčovatelka — one who borrows
  • Czech: dlužník — one who borrows
  • Czech: dlužnice — one who borrows
  • Danish: låntager — one who borrows
  • Dutch: lener — one who borrows
  • Esperanto: prunteprenanto — one who borrows
  • Estonian: laenaja — one who borrows
  • Finnish: lainaaja — one who borrows
  • Finnish: lainanottaja — one who borrows
  • French: emprunteur — one who borrows
  • French: emprunteuse — one who borrows
  • Georgian: მსესხებელი (msesxebeli) — one who borrows
  • German: Kreditnehmer — one who borrows
  • German: Entleiher — one who borrows
  • Greek: δανειολήπτης (daneiolíptis) — one who borrows
  • Hebrew: לֹוֶה (lové) — one who borrows
  • Hungarian: kölcsönző — one who borrows
  • Icelandic: lántakandi — one who borrows
  • Indonesian: peminjam — one who borrows
  • Irish: iasachtaí — one who borrows
  • Italian: mutuatario — one who borrows
  • Italian: mutuataria — one who borrows
  • Japanese: 借り手 (karite) — one who borrows
  • Kazakh: қарызгер (qaryzger) — one who borrows
  • Kazakh: қарыз алушы (qaryz aluşy) — one who borrows
  • Khmer: អ្នកខ្ចី (nĕək khcəy) — one who borrows
  • Korean: 차용자 (chayongja) — one who borrows
  • Korean: 대출자 (daechulja) — one who borrows
  • Kyrgyz: карыз алуучу (karız aluucu) — one who borrows
  • Kyrgyz: зайымчы (zayımcı) — one who borrows
  • Kyrgyz: зайым алуучу (zayım aluucu) — one who borrows
  • Lao: ຜູ້ຢືມ (phū yư̄m) — one who borrows
  • Latvian: aizņēmējs — one who borrows
  • Lithuanian: pasiskolintojas — one who borrows
  • Lithuanian: skolininkas — one who borrows
  • Macedonian: заемопримач (zaemoprimač) — one who borrows
  • Malay: peminjam — one who borrows
  • Middle English: borwere — one who borrows
  • Mongolian: зээлдэгч (zeeldegč) — one who borrows
  • Norman: emprunteux — one who borrows
  • Norwegian Bokmål: låntaker — one who borrows
  • Iranian Persian: قَرْض کُنَنْدِه (ġarz konande) — one who borrows
  • Polish: pożyczkobiorca — one who borrows
  • Portuguese: mutuário — one who borrows
  • Portuguese: mutuária — one who borrows
  • Portuguese: recebedor — one who borrows
  • Portuguese: recebedora — one who borrows
  • Romanian: debitor — one who borrows
  • Romanian: debitoare — one who borrows
  • Romanian: împrumutat — one who borrows
  • Romanian: împrumutată — one who borrows
  • Russian: заёмщик (zajómščik) — one who borrows
  • Russian: заёмщица (zajómščica) — one who borrows
  • Russian: беру́щий взаймы́ (berúščij vzajmý) — one who borrows
  • Russian: беру́щий в долг (berúščij v dolg) — one who borrows
  • Scots: borraer — one who borrows
  • Serbo-Croatian: зајмопри́мац — one who borrows
  • Serbo-Croatian: zajmoprímac — one who borrows
  • Slovak: dlžník — one who borrows
  • Slovak: dlžníčka — one who borrows
  • Slovene: posojilojemalec — one who borrows
  • Spanish: prestatario — one who borrows
  • Swahili: mkopaji — one who borrows
  • Swedish: låntagare — one who borrows
  • Tajik: қарзгиранда (qarzgiranda) — one who borrows
  • Tajik: қарзбардор (qarzbardor) — one who borrows
  • Tajik: қарзгир (qarzgir) — one who borrows
  • Tajik: вомгир (vomgir) — one who borrows
  • Thai: ผู้ยืม (pûu-yʉʉm) — one who borrows
  • Turkish: borçlu — one who borrows
  • Turkish: borç alan — one who borrows
  • Turkish: ödünç alan — one who borrows
  • Turkmen: karz alyjy — one who borrows
  • Ukrainian: позича́льник (pozyčálʹnyk) — one who borrows
  • Ukrainian: позича́льниця (pozyčálʹnycja) — one who borrows
  • Uyghur: قەرز ئالغۇچى (qerz alghuchi) — one who borrows
  • Uzbek: qarz oluvchi — one who borrows
  • Vietnamese: người vay — one who borrows
Real reading context

borrower in complete knowledge articles