borrowing

An act of taking something to use and return later, or taking money that must be paid back.

• Borrowing from friends can cause problems.
• The bank increased its borrowing charges.
• Repeated borrowing left the company with large debts.

How to use it: borrowing from someone/something (Borrowing from the bank helped them buy a home.)

Opposites: lending

Common phrases: government borrowing, borrowing of money, borrowing costs

A word taken from another language and used as part of your own language.

• This word is a borrowing from French.
• English contains borrowings from many languages.
• Some recent borrowings keep their original spelling.

How to use it: a borrowing from a language (This term is a borrowing from Italian.)

Similar words: loanword

Common phrases: linguistic borrowing, borrowing from French, recent borrowing

Taking goods from a shop without paying, described jokingly as if you would return them.

• He called stealing sweets borrowing.
• She was caught borrowing clothes from the shop.
• Their idea of borrowing involved hiding goods in their bags.

Similar words: shoplifting, stealing

Common phrases: borrowing from shops, borrowing store goods