lender

From Middle English lendare, leendare, variants of lenner, lenere, equivalent to lend +‎ -er.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛndɚ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛndə(ɹ)

lender (plural lenders)

1. One who lends, especially money; specifically, a bank or other entity that specializes in granting loans.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     [Polonius]: Neither a borrower nor a lender be:
     For loan oft loses both itself and friend;
     And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.

   • 2013 June 1, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 71:

     Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.

• borrower

• creditor
• debtor

• eldern, eldren, relend

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛn.dər/

lender f

1. indefinite plural of lend