Borrow vs. Lent — What's the Difference?

To adopt ideas or words from another source.

Gave something to someone to use temporarily.

To take something from someone with the intention of returning it.

Extended help or resources temporarily.

To use something belonging to another with permission.

Allowed the use of personal property temporarily.

To receive temporary use of something.

Provided something on loan.

To take on a temporary basis.

Contributed by giving temporarily.

To obtain or receive (something) on loan with the promise or understanding of returning it or its equivalent.

Lent (Latin: Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a religious observance in the Christian liturgical calendar that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends approximately six weeks later; depending on the Christian denomination and local custom, Lent concludes either on the evening of Maundy Thursday, or at sundown on Holy Saturday, when the Easter Vigil is celebrated. Regardless, Lenten practices are properly maintained until the evening of Holy Saturday.

To adopt or use as one's own

(in the Christian Church) the period preceding Easter, which is devoted to fasting, abstinence, and penitence in commemoration of Christ's fasting in the wilderness. In the Western Church it runs from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, and so includes forty weekdays.

In subtraction, to take a unit from the next larger denomination in the minuend so as to make a number larger than the number to be subtracted.

Past tense and past participle of lend.

(Linguistics) To adopt (a word) from one language for use in another.

A 40-day period of fasting and penitence observed by many Christians in preparation for Easter. In Western churches, Lent lasts from Ash Wednesday until Easter, usually excepting Sundays.

To borrow something.

Simple past tense and past participle of lend

(Linguistics) To adopt words from one language for use in another.

A fast of forty days, beginning with Ash Wednesday and continuing till Easter, observed by some Christian churches as commemorative of the fast of our Savior.

To receive (something) from somebody temporarily, expecting to return it.

Slow; mild; gentle; as, lenter heats.

To receive money from a bank or other lender under the agreement that the lender will be paid back over time.

See Lento.

To adopt (an idea) as one's own.

A period of 40 weekdays from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday

(linguistics) To adopt a word from another language.

(arithmetic) In a subtraction, to deduct (one) from a digit of the minuend and add ten to the following digit, in order that the subtraction of a larger digit in the subtrahend from the digit in the minuend to which ten is added gives a positive result.

To lend.

(ditransitive) To temporarily obtain (something) for (someone).

To feign or counterfeit.

(obsolete except in ballads) To secure the release of (someone) from prison.

(informal) To receive (something, usually of trifling value) from somebody, with little possibility of returning it.

(informal) To interrupt the current activity of (a person) and lead them away in order to speak with them, get their help, etc.

(golf) To adjust one's aim in order to compensate for the slope of the green.

Deviation of the path of a rolling ball from a straight line; slope; slant.

A borrow pit.

(programming) In the Rust programming language, the situation where the ownership of a value is temporarily transferred to another region of code.

(archaic) A ransom; a pledge or guarantee.

(archaic) A surety; someone standing bail.

To receive from another as a loan, with the implied or expressed intention of returning the identical article or its equivalent in kind; - the opposite of lend.

To take (one or more) from the next higher denomination in order to add it to the next lower; - a term of subtraction when the figure of the subtrahend is larger than the corresponding one of the minuend.

To copy or imitate; to adopt; as, to borrow the style, manner, or opinions of another.

To feign or counterfeit.

To receive; to take; to derive.

Something deposited as security; a pledge; a surety; a hostage.

The act of borrowing.

Get temporarily;

Take up and practice as one's own

No, 'borrowed' and 'lent' cannot be used interchangeably as they represent actions from opposite perspectives in a transaction.

Synonyms for borrow include "take temporarily," "use for a while"; for lent, "loaned," "gave temporarily."

No, the correct phrase would be "I lent him my book," as 'lent' refers to giving, not receiving.

Borrowing money from a bank or obtaining a loan are examples of financial borrowing.

Yes, organizations can borrow things such as equipment, spaces, or even intellectual property.

Use 'borrow' when referring to the action of taking something temporarily, and 'lend' when referring to the action of giving something temporarily.

The past tense of borrow is 'borrowed.'

To borrow means to take something from someone temporarily with the intention of returning it.

Lent is the past tense of lend, referring to the action of giving something to someone temporarily.

A common mistake is using 'lent' to describe the receiver's action; it should always describe the giver's action.