owe
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Òwè tó ń jókòó lé àpáta
English
Etymology
From Middle English owen, from Old English āgan, from Proto-West Germanic *aigan (“to own”), from Proto-Germanic *aiganą, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eh₂óyḱe (“to possess, own”), reduplicated stative of *h₂eyḱ- (“to own”). See also own, ought.
Cognate with Sanskrit ईष्टे (īṣṭe, “to own, possess”).
Pronunciation
Verb
owe (third-person singular simple present owes, present participle owing, simple past owed or (archaic) ought, past participle owed or (archaic) own)
- (ditransitive) To be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone.
- I owe Kevin five bucks which he lent to me last week.
- This time I'll cover for you, but now you owe me a favour.
- 1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw , Act I:
- VVe owe God a death, and we can but die:
- c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
- […] To you, Antonio,
I owe the most, in money and in love;
And from your love I have a warranty
To unburden all my plots and purposes
How to get clear of all the debts I owe.
- 1854, Charles Dickens, chapter 7, in Hard Times. For These Times, London: Bradbury & Evans, , →OCLC:
- He inherited a fair fortune from his uncle, but owed it all before he came into it, and spent it twice over immediately afterwards.
- (intransitive) To have debt; to be in debt.
- (transitive) To have as a cause; used with to.
- The record owes its success to the outstanding guitar solos.
Usage notes
- The original past tense form was ought, which during Middle English began to be used with indefinite signification and has become a distinct verb. The original past participle survives in the adjective own.
Derived terms
Translations
to be under an obligation
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to be in debt
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Anagrams
Avava
Noun
owe
Further reading
- Terry Crowley et al, The Avava Language of Central Malakula (Vanuatu) (2006)
Bavarian
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle High German abhin, abehin, equivalent to å + hi. Compare archaic German abhin.
Pronunciation
Adverb
owe
Usage notes
Bavarian adverbs of direction come in pairs: endings in -i or -e denote direction away from the speaker (akin to hi), and endings in -a denote direction towards the speaker (akin to her).
Related terms
Middle English
Pronoun
owe
- Alternative form of yow
Polish
Pronunciation
Pronoun
owe
Yoruba
Alternative forms
Etymology 1
Folk etymology explains that it comes from ò- (“nominalizing prefix”) + wé (“to wrap, to twist”), literally “That which wraps something around something else (another meaning)”.
Pronunciation
Noun
òwe
Etymology 2
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Noun
òwè
- a species of black monkey; (in particular) Collared mangabey
Derived terms
proverbs
- bí alákẹdun rọ̀, tó fọwọ́ ṣẹ́; agbọ̀n la ó fi kó ọmọ òwè níbẹ̀ (“If the colobus monkey breaks its arm while suspended from a tree, Collard mangabeys will be scooped off the place by the basketful”)
- ikú tó pa òwè ń pòwe fún ẹdun (“the death that killed the Collared mangabey sends a proverbial message to the colobus monkey”)