earn

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See also: Earn and EARN

English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English ernen, from Old English earnian, from Proto-West Germanic *aʀanōn, from Proto-Germanic *azanōną. This verb is denominal from the noun *azaniz (“harvest”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

earn (third-person singular simple present earns, present participle earning, simple past and past participle earned or (chiefly UK) earnt)

  1. (transitive) To gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work.
    You can have the s'mores: you earned them, clearing the walkway of snow so well.
    • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations. It is easily earned repetition to state that Josephine St. Auban's was a presence not to be concealed.
    • 2011 November 12, “International friendly: England 1-0 Spain”, in BBC Sport:
      England will not be catapulted among the favourites for Euro 2012 as a result of this win, but no victory against Spain is earned easily and it is right they take great heart from their efforts as they now prepare to play Sweden at Wembley on Tuesday.
  2. (transitive) To receive payment for work.
    He earns seven million dollars a year as CEO.  My bank account is only earning one percent interest.
    (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  3. (intransitive) To receive payment for work.
    Now that you are earning, you can start paying me rent.
  4. (transitive) To cause (someone) to receive payment or reward.
    My CD earns me six percent!
    • 1965, James Holledge, What Makes a Call Girl?, London: Horwitz Publications, page 99:
      '[T]hough I earned her a lot of money, I have nothing but regrets for what I did.'
  5. (transitive) To achieve by being worthy of.
    to earn a spot in the top 20
Conjugation[edit]
Conjugation of earn
infinitive (to) earn
present tense past tense
1st-person singular earn earned, earnt
2nd-person singular earn, earnest† earned, earnt, earnedst†
3rd-person singular earns, earneth† earned, earnt
plural earn
subjunctive earn earned, earnt
imperative earn —
participles earning earned, earnt

†Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms[edit]
  • (gain through applied effort or work): deserve, merit, garner, win
  • ((transitive) receive payment for work):
  • ((intransitive) receive payment for work):
  • (cause someone to receive payment or reward): yield, make, generate, render
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Probably either:[1]

Verb[edit]

earn (third-person singular simple present earns, present participle earning, simple past and past participle earned) (Britain, dialectal)

  1. (transitive, archaic) To curdle (milk), especially in the cheesemaking process.
    Synonyms: run, (Northern England, Scotland) yearn
  2. (intransitive, obsolete) Of milk: to curdle, espcially in the cheesemaking process.

Etymology 3[edit]

A variant of yearn.[3]

Verb[edit]

earn (third-person singular simple present earns, present participle earning, simple past and past participle earned)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To strongly long or yearn (for something or to do something).[4]
  2. (intransitive, obsolete) To grieve.[5]

Etymology 4[edit]

Noun[edit]

earn (plural earns)

  1. Alternative form of erne[6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ “earn, v.3”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2020.
  2. ^ “rennen, v.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  3. ^ “† earn, v.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2020.
  4. ^ “earn”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
  5. ^ “earn”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
  6. ^ “earn”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Noun[edit]

earn

  1. (Early Middle English) Alternative form of ern (“eagle”)

Old English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Germanic *arô, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃érō (“eagle, large bird”).

Cognate with Old Frisian *ern, Old Saxon *arn, Old Dutch *arn, Old High German arn, Old Norse ǫrn, Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐌰 (ara); and, outside the Germanic languages, with Ancient Greek ὄρνις (órnis, “bird”), Old Armenian որոր (oror, “gull”), Old Irish irar, Lithuanian erẽlis, Old Church Slavonic орьлъ (orĭlŭ).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /æ͜ɑrn/, [æ͜ɑrˠn]

Noun[edit]

earn m

  1. eagle

Declension[edit]

Declension of earn (strong a-stem)
Case Singular Plural
nominative earn earnas
accusative earn earnas
genitive earnes earna
dative earne earnum

Descendants[edit]

  • Middle English: ern
    • English: erne
    • Scots: earn, ern, erne

West Frisian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Frisian *ern, from Proto-Germanic *arô, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃érō.

Noun[edit]

earn c (plural earnen, diminutive earntsje)

  1. eagle
  2. (figuratively) miser

Further reading[edit]

  • “earn”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011
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