# borrowing

/ˈbɑɹoʊɪŋ/ (US) · /bˈɒɹəʊɪŋ/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/borrowing
Updated: 2026-06-20

## Senses

### 1. taking something temporarily

noun · CEFR B1

the act of taking something from someone else with the plan to give it back later.

For teachers: the act of receiving something from another party with the intent or obligation of returning it.

- The borrowing of library books has increased since the renovation.
- The frequent borrowing of equipment without formal logging led to a significant shortage by the end of the fiscal year.

### 2. money owed

noun · CEFR B2

money that a person, company, or government has taken as a loan.

For teachers: the amount of money obtained through loans, often referring to the total debt of an entity.

- Government borrowing rose sharply during the economic crisis.
- Economists warned that excessive borrowing to fund short-term projects would inevitably lead to a credit downgrade.

### 3. a loanword

noun · CEFR C1 · Academic · Technical

a word that a language takes from another language.

For teachers: a word or phrase adopted from one language into another; a loanword.

- The word 'café' is a common borrowing from French used in English.
- The study explores how lexical borrowings from Arabic were integrated into the Spanish language during the medieval period.

### 4. shoplifting

verb · CEFR C2 · Humorous · Slang

a funny or polite way to talk about stealing something from a shop.

For teachers: a euphemistic term for shoplifting or theft.

- He got caught doing a bit of 'borrowing' from the local supermarket.
- The security guard was unimpressed by the teenager's claim that he was merely borrowing the headphones without paying for them.

## Examples

- 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.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.