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interest. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
interest, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
interest in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English interest, from Old French interesse and interest (French intérêt), from Medieval Latin interesse, from Latin interesse.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɪntəɹɪst/, /ˈɪntɹɪst/, /ˈɪntɹɛst/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɪntəɹəst/, /ˈɪntɹəst/, /ˈɪntəɹɛst/, /ˈɪntɹɛst/, /ˈɪntəɹst/
- Rhymes: -ɪntəɹɪst, -ɪntɹɪst, -ɪntəɹəst, -ɪntɹəst, -ɪntəɹɛst, -ɪntɹɛst, -ɪntəɹst
- Hyphenation: in‧ter‧est
Noun
interest (usually uncountable, plural interests)
- (uncountable, finance) The price paid for obtaining, or price received for providing, money or goods in a credit transaction, calculated as a fraction of the amount or value of what was borrowed.
Our bank offers borrowers an annual interest of 5%.
- (uncountable, finance) Any excess over and above an exact equivalent
c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :You shall have your desires with interest
- (uncountable) A great attention and concern from someone or something; intellectual curiosity.
He has a lot of interest in vintage cars.
1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.
1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.”
- (uncountable) Attention that is given to or received from someone or something.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:[…] St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.
2013 August 10, “Standing orders”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:Over the past few years, however, interest has waxed again. A series of epidemiological studies, none big enough to be probative, but all pointing in the same direction, persuaded Emma Wilmot of the University of Leicester, in Britain, to carry out a meta-analysis. This is a technique that combines diverse studies in a statistically meaningful way.
2013 June 21, Chico Harlan, “Japan pockets the subsidy ”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 30:Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."
- (countable) An involvement, claim, right, share, stake in or link with a financial, business, or other undertaking or endeavor.
When scientists and doctors write articles and when politicians run for office, they are required in many countries to declare any existing conflicts of interest (competing interests).
I have business interests in South Africa.
She has an interest in the proceedings, and all stakeholders' interests must be protected.
- (countable) Something which, or someone whom, one is interested in.
Lexicography is one of my interests.
Victorian furniture is an interest of mine.
The main character's romantic interest will be played by a non-professional actor.
- (uncountable) Condition or quality of exciting concern or being of importance.
1809, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Friend, Essay VIII:The conscience, indeed, is already violated when to moral good or evil we oppose things possessing no moral interest.
- (obsolete, rare) Injury, or compensation for injury; damages.
1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes , book II, London: Val Simmes for Edward Blount , →OCLC:How can this infinite beauty, power and goodnes admit any correspondencie or similitude with a thing so base and abject as we are, without extreme interest and manifest derogation from his divine greatnesse?
- (usually in the plural) The persons interested in any particular business or measure, taken collectively.
- Coordinate terms: industry, trust, syndicate
the iron interest; the cotton interest
Synonyms
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Translations
finance: price of credit
- Albanian: gjedheshtër (sq) m, interes (sq) m
- Arabic: فَائِدَة f (fāʔida)
- Armenian: տոկոս (hy) f (tokos)
- Azerbaijani: faiz (az)
- Basque: interes
- Belarusian: працэ́нт m (pracént), адсо́так m (adsótak)
- Bulgarian: ли́хва (bg) f (líhva)
- Burmese: အတိုး (my) (a.tui:)
- Catalan: interès (ca) m
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 利息 (lei6 sik1)
- Mandarin: 利息 (zh) (lìxī)
- Czech: úrok (cs) m
- Danish: rente (da) c
- Dutch: interest (nl) m, rente (nl) f or m
- Esperanto: interezo
- Estonian: intress
- Finnish: korko (fi)
- French: intérêt (fr) m
- Galician: xuros m pl
- Georgian: პროცენტი (ṗrocenṭi)
- German: Zinsen (de) m pl
- Greek: τόκος (el) m (tókos)
- Ancient: τόκος m (tókos)
- Hebrew: ריבית \ רִבִּית (he) f (ribít)
- Hindi: सूद (hi) m (sūd), ब्याज (hi) m (byāj)
- Hungarian: kamat (hu)
- Icelandic: vextir m pl
- Indonesian: bunga (id), renten
- Irish: ús (ga) m
- Italian: interesse (it) m
- Japanese: 利子 (ja) (りし, rishi), 利息 (ja) (りそく, risoku)
- Javanese: uyahan (jv)
- Kazakh: пайыз (kk) (paiyz), процент (prosent)
- Khmer: ការប្រាក់ (kaa prak)
- Korean: 이자(利子) (ko) (ija), 리자(利子) (ko) (rija) (North Korea), 이식(利息) (ko) (isik), 리식(利息) (ko) (risik) (North Korea)
- Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish: faîz (ku) f, riba (ku) f
- Kyrgyz: пайыз (payız), процент (protsent)
- Ladin: fit m
- Lao: ດອກເບ້ຍ (lo) (dǭk bīa)
- Latin: faenus (la) n, usura f
- Latvian: procenti pl, augļi (lv) m pl
- Lithuanian: palūkanos (lt) f pl, procentai pl
- Low German:
- German Low German: Tins m
- Macedonian: камата f (kamata), интерес m (interes)
- Malay: bunga (ms), faedah
- Malayalam: പലിശ (ml) (paliśa)
- Manx: use m
- Maori: moni whakatupu
- Marathi: व्याज (vyāj)
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: хүү (mn) (xüü)
- Navajo: ínáóltąʼí
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: rente (no) m or f
- Ottoman Turkish: فائض (faʼiz)
- Persian: بهره (fa) (bahre)
- Plautdietsch: Entras f
- Polish: odsetka (pl) f, odsetek (pl)
- Portuguese: juros (pt) m
- Romanian: dobândă (ro) f
- Russian: проце́нт (ru) m (procént)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: и̏нтере̄с m, ка̏мата f
- Roman: ȉnterēs (sh) m, kȁmata (sh) f
- Shan: ၶီႈငိုၼ်း (shn) (khīi ngúen), ဢတူဝ်း (ʼǎ tó)
- Slovak: úrok (sk) m
- Slovene: obresti (sl) f pl
- Spanish: interés (es) m
- Swahili: faida (sw) class 9/10
- Swedish: ränta (sv) c
- Tagalog: patubo, tubo (tl), interes
- Tajik: фоиз (tg) (foyiz), баҳра (bahra)
- Telugu: వడ్డీ (te) (vaḍḍī)
- Thai: ดอกเบี้ย (th) (dɔ̀ɔk-bîia)
- Turkish: faiz (tr), getiri (tr), ürem (tr)
- Turkmen: göterim
- Ukrainian: відсо́ток m (vidsótok), проце́нт (uk) m (procént)
- Urdu: سود m (sūd)
- Uyghur: ئۆسۈم (ösüm)
- Uzbek: protsent (uz), foiz (uz)
- Vietnamese: lãi (vi)
- Welsh: budd (cy) m
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great attention and concern from someone
- Albanian: interesim (sq) m
- Arabic: اِهْتِمَام m (ihtimām)
- Armenian: հետաքրքրություն (hy) (hetakʿrkʿrutʿyun)
- Azerbaijani: maraq (az)
- Belarusian: ціка́васць f (cikávascʹ), інтарэс m (intares)
- Bulgarian: интере́с (bg) m (interés)
- Catalan: interès (ca) m
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 興趣/兴趣 (zh) (xìngqù)
- Czech: zájem (cs) m
- Danish: interesse c
- Dutch: interesse (nl) f
- Esperanto: intereso
- Estonian: huvi (et)
- Finnish: kiinnostus (fi), mielenkiinto (fi)
- French: intérêt (fr) m
- German: Interesse (de) n
- Greek: ενδιαφέρον (el) n (endiaféron)
- Hebrew: עניין \ עִנְיָן (he) m (inyán)
- Hindi: स्वारस्य (hi) (svārasya)
- Hungarian: érdeklődés (hu)
- Icelandic: áhugi (is) m
- Indonesian: minat (id), ketertarikan (id)
- Interlingua: interesse
- Irish: spéis f, suim f
- Italian: interesse (it) m
- Japanese: 興味 (ja) (きょうみ, kyōmi), 関心 (ja) (かんしん, kanshin)
- Kazakh: қызығу (qyzyğu)
- Korean: 흥미(興味) (ko) (heungmi), 관심(關心) (ko) (gwansim)
- Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish: mereq (ku) f, balkêşî (ku) f, entres f
- Kyrgyz: кызыгуу (ky) (kızıguu)
- Latvian: interese f
- Lithuanian: interesas m, domėjimasis m, susidomėjimas m
- Macedonian: интерес m (interes)
- Malay: minat (ms)
- Malayalam: താല്പര്യം (ml) (tālparyaṁ)
- Manx: foayr m
- Maori: aronga
- Marathi: स्वारस्य (mr) (svārasya)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: interesse (no) m
- Nynorsk: interesse (no) f
- Occitan: interès (oc) m
- Persian: اهتمام (fa) (ehtemâm), علاقه (fa) ('alâqe)
- Polish: zainteresowanie (pl) n
- Portuguese: interesse (pt) m
- Romanian: interes (ro) n, interes material n
- Russian: интере́с (ru) m (interés)
- Scottish Gaelic: suim f
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: и̏нтере̄с m
- Roman: ȉnterēs (sh) m
- Sicilian: ntiressi m
- Slovak: záujem m
- Slovene: zanimanje n, interes m
- Southern Altai: јилбӱ (ǰilbü)
- Spanish: interés (es) m
- Swedish: intresse (sv) n
- Tagalog: kawilihan
- Tajik: шавқ (šavq)
- Telugu: ఆసక్తి (te) (āsakti)
- Turkish: ilgi (tr)
- Ukrainian: ціка́вість (uk) f (cikávistʹ), інтере́с (uk) m (interés) (concern)
- Volapük: nited (vo)
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attention that is given to or received from someone or something
- Afrikaans: belangstelling (af)
- Armenian: հետաքրքրություն (hy) (hetakʿrkʿrutʿyun)
- Belarusian: інтарэс m (intares)
- Bulgarian: интере́с (bg) m (interés)
- Catalan: interès (ca) m
- Danish: interessant (da) c
- Dutch: belangstelling (nl) f, interesse (nl) f
- Esperanto: intereso
- Finnish: kiinnostus (fi), mielenkiinto (fi)
- French: intérêt (fr)
- Greek: ενδιαφέρον (el) n (endiaféron)
- Hebrew: תשומת לב (he) f (t'sómet-lév), עִנְיָן (he) m ('inyán)
- Hungarian: érdeklődés (hu), figyelem (hu)
- Irish: spéis f, suim f
- Italian: interesse (it) m, attenzione (it) f
- Japanese: 興味 (ja) (きょうみ, kyōmi), 関心 (ja) (かんしん, kanshin)
- Korean: 흥미(興味) (ko) (heungmi), 관심(關心) (ko) (gwansim)
- Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish: mereq (ku) f, balkêşî (ku) f, entres f
- Malayalam: താല്പര്യം (ml) (tālparyaṁ)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: interesse (no) m
- Nynorsk: interesse (no) f
- Portuguese: interesse (pt) m
- Romanian: interes (ro) n
- Russian: интере́с (ru) m (interés)
- Scottish Gaelic: suim f
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: и̏нтере̄с m
- Roman: ȉnterēs (sh) m
- Spanish: interés (es) m
- Swedish: intresse (sv) n
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involvement in or link with financial, business, or other undertaking
something one is interested in
(obsolete in English) compensation for injury
persons interested in any particular business or measure
Translations to be checked
Verb
interest (third-person singular simple present interests, present participle interesting, simple past and past participle interested)
- To engage the attention of; to awaken interest in; to excite emotion or passion in, in behalf of a person or thing.
- It might interest you to learn that others have already tried that approach.
- Action films don't really interest me.
- (obsolete, often impersonal) To be concerned with or engaged in; to affect; to concern; to excite.
1633, John Ford, Perkin Warbeck:Or rather, gracious sir, / Create me to this glory, since my cause / Doth interest this fair quarrel.
- (obsolete) To cause or permit to share.
1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, , London: Will Stansby , published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):The mystical communion of all faithful men is such as maketh every one to be interested in those precious blessings which any one of them receiveth at God's hands.
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations
to attract attention or concern
- Armenian: հետաքրքրել (hy) (hetakʿrkʿrel)
- Azerbaijani: maraq (az)
- Belarusian: ціка́віць impf (cikávicʹ)
- Bulgarian: заинтересувам (bg) (zainteresuvam)
- Catalan: interessar (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 使……感興趣/使……感兴趣 (shǐ...gǎn qìngqù)
- Czech: zajímat (cs)
- Danish: interessere
- Dutch: interesseren (nl)
- Esperanto: interesi
- Estonian: huvi äratama
- Finnish: kiinnostaa (fi)
- French: intéresser (fr)
- German: interessieren (de)
- Greek: ενδιαφέρω (el) (endiaféro)
- Hungarian: érdekel (hu)
- Italian: interessare (it), attrarre (it)
- Japanese: (phrase) 興味を引く (きょうみをひく, kyōmi o hiku)
- Korean: 흥미를 끌다 (heungmireul kkeulda)
- Latvian: interesēt, interesēties (reflexive)
- Lithuanian: dominti, suinteresuoti, domėtis (reflexive)
- Malay: menarik (ms) minat (ms)
- Maori: aro, āro
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: interessere (no)
- Nynorsk: interessere (no), interessera (no)
- Polish: ciekawić (pl) impf, interesować (pl) impf, zainteresować (pl) pf, zaciekawiać impf, zaciekawić pf, zajmować (pl) impf, zająć (pl) pf
- Portuguese: interessar (pt)
- Romanian: interesa (ro)
- Russian: (transitive) интересова́ть (ru) impf (interesovátʹ), заинтересова́ть (ru) pf (zainteresovátʹ); (intransitive) интересова́ться (ru) impf (interesovátʹsja), заинтересова́ться (ru) pf (zainteresovátʹsja) (+ instrumental case)
- Serbo-Croatian: zanimati (sh) impf, interesirati (sh) impf, zanimati se (sh) impf or pf
- Cyrillic: интересовати impf
- Roman: interesovati impf
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: zajmowaś impf
- Spanish: interesar (es)
- Swedish: intressera (sv)
- Ukrainian: ціка́вити (uk) impf (cikávyty), інтересува́ти impf (interesuváty) (concern)
- Vietnamese: làm... chú ý
- Volapük: nitedön (vo)
- Yucatec Maya: k’abéet
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Further reading
- "interest" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 171.
Anagrams
Dutch
Alternative forms
Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.) Doublet of interesse.
Pronunciation
Noun
interest m (plural interesten, diminutive interestje n)
- (finance) interest
Synonyms
Descendants
Latin
Verb
interest
- third-person singular present active indicative of intersum
References
- “interest”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “interest”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- interest in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Middle French
Noun
interest m (plural interests)
- interest (great attention and concern from someone or something)