borrower

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbɔɹəʊə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbɑɹoʊɚ/

Noun

borrower (plural borrowers)

1. One who borrows.

   a library borrower’s card

   • 1984, Journal of Banking & Finance, volume 8, page 158:

     But if other negative factors are operating simultaneously, or if the borrower's financial status is weak to start with, then one extra adverse development is more likely to affect returns on the loan.

   • 2002, Manfred Görlach, Still More Englishes, page 144:

     This term became popular from the late 1960s onwards, languages being neatly divided between borrowers and calquers.

   • 2025 October 1, Annie Ma, “How the government shutdown will affect student loans, FAFSA and the Education Department”, in AP News‎:

     For most student loan issues, borrowers work with loan servicers hired by the department rather than directly with FSA staff.

Antonyms

• lender

Derived terms

• microborrower
• neither a borrower nor a lender be
• nonborrower

Translations

one who borrows

Arabic: مُسْتَعِير m (mustaʕīr), مُسْتَعِيرَة f (mustaʕīra) Bulgarian: заемополучател m (zaemopolučatel) Catalan: manllevador m Chinese: Mandarin: 借款人 (zh) (jièkuǎnrén), 借用人 (jièyòngrén) Esperanto: prunteprenanto Finnish: lainaaja (fi), lainanottaja (fi) French: emprunteur (fr) m, emprunteuse (fr) f German: Kreditnehmer (de) m, Entleiher m Greek: δανειολήπτης (el) m (daneiolíptis) Irish: iasachtaí m Japanese: 借り手 (かりて, karite) Norman: emprunteux m (Jersey) Polish: pożyczkobiorca m Portuguese: mutuário m, mutuária f, recebedor m, recebedora f Russian: заёмщик (ru) m (zajómščik), заёмщица (ru) f (zajómščica), беру́щий взаймы́ m (berúščij vzajmý), беру́щий в долг m (berúščij v dolg) Scots: borraer Spanish: prestatario m (money) Swahili: mkopaji (sw) Swedish: låntagare (sv) c

See also

• debtor
• creditor

Anagrams

• reborrow