Etymograph

English

lend

Lend comes from Old English lǣnan ‘to lend’, from Proto-Germanic *laihnijaną ‘to loan’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ- ‘to leave, leave over’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leykʷ-1‘to leave, leave over’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*laihną1‘loan’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*laihnijaną1‘to loan’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*laihnijan1‘to loan, lend’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150lǣnan1‘to lend’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lenen1
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1712lend1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English lend
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1712, Joseph Addison, Cato: “[…] Cato, lend me for a vvhile thy Patience,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leykʷ-Wiktionary, English lend‘to leave, leave over’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*laihnąWiktionary, English lend‘loan’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*laihnijanąWiktionary, English lend‘to loan’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*laihnijanWiktionary, English lend‘to loan, lend’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150lǣnanWiktionary, English lend‘to lend’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lenenWiktionary, English lend
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1712lendWiktionary, English lend. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1712, Joseph Addison, Cato: “[…] Cato, lend me for a vvhile thy Patience,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ- ‘to leave, leave over’

relic, elliptical, relinquish, delinquent, elliptic, delinquency, ellipse, ecliptic, ellipsis, 12 more

through Proto-Germanic *laihną ‘loan’

loan

through Middle English lenen

lean

Another origin of lend

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lendʰ-‘loin, kidney’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*landį̄‘loin’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*landīreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150lenden‘loin’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150lendenu‘loins’plural of lenden
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lende‘The (human) loins or their muscles’
  7. Englishtodaylend

Today it means

verb To allow to be used by someone temporarily, on condition that it or its equivalent will be returned.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “lend”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ- / lend

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