borrowing
n. C / Un. the act of taking something from someone else with the plan to give it back later. In language, it means taking a word from another language and using it as your own.
n. the act of receiving something on loan with the intent to return it; in linguistics, the process by which one language adopts a word or phrase from another.
The library allows the borrowing of up to ten books at once.
English has a long history of borrowing, which is why we use French words like 'ballet' and 'café'.
While some critics view heavy linguistic borrowing as a threat to cultural purity, most linguists see it as a natural mechanism for expanding a language's expressive range.
From borrow + -ing.
Uncountable when referring to the general practice or act; countable when referring to a specific word or item taken from another source.
I made a borrowing from the bankI took out a loan from the bankWhile 'borrowing' is the act, the specific financial product or sum of money is called a 'loan'.