earn

A2 Topic:Actions & Processes

Also spelled arn and oinin

US /ɝn/ UK /ɜːn/ See IPA manual

Homophones

urn /ɝn/

Freq #2566

Meanings

1

verb
To get money in return for work that you do.

She earns a good salary as an engineer.
2

verb
To get something you deserve because of your effort or qualities.

He earned everyone's respect through years of hard work.
3

verb
To produce money as profit or interest.

My savings account earns very little interest these days.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to get money in return for... get maketake in

2 verb · to get something you... deserve garner merit win

3 verb · to produce money as profit... generate make yield

Word family

Forms earnedearnerearningearnsunearned

Derived forms earnableearnerearnfulearningsearnouthard-earnednonearningoutearnoutournoverearnre-earnreearn

Appears in

Phrases (5)

See all

earn applause
to deserve and receive clapping through a strong performance

Verb + noun
earn marks
to accumulate points or grades through effort and performance

Verb + noun
earn respect
to gain the respect of others through one's behaviour or achievements

Verb + noun
earn trust
to gain someone's trust through one's actions and reliability

Verb + noun
well-earned rest
a period of relaxation that is deserved after hard work

Adjective + noun

Etymology

Probably either: * from Middle English erne, ernen (“to coagulate, congeal”) (chiefly South Midlands) [and other forms], a metathetic variant of rennen (“to run; to coagulate, congeal”), from Old English rinnan (“to run”) (with the variants iernan, irnan) and Old Norse rinna (“to move quickly, run; of liquid: to flow, run; to melt”), both from Proto-Germanic *rinnaną, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- (“to move, stir; to rise, spring”); or * a back-formation from earning (“(Britain regional, archaic) rennet”).

*h₃er- Proto-Indo-European erne Middle English rinnan Old English rinna Old Norse *rinnaną Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes

External links

# earn

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /ɝn/
**IPA (UK):** /ɜːn/
**Frequency rank:** 2566

## Meanings
1. To get money in return for work that you do.
2. To get something you deserve because of your effort or qualities.
3. To produce money as profit or interest.

## Examples
- She earns a good salary as an engineer.
- He earned everyone's respect through years of hard work.
- My savings account earns very little interest these days.

## Derived Forms
- earnable
- earner
- earnful
- earnings
- earnout
- hard-earned
- nonearning
- outearn
- outourn
- overearn
- re-earn
- reearn

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *h₃er-
- Root: erne
- Root: rinnan
- Root: rinna
- Root: *rinnaną

## Etymology
Probably either: * from Middle English erne, ernen (“to coagulate, congeal”) (chiefly South Midlands) [and other forms], a metathetic variant of rennen (“to run; to coagulate, congeal”), from Old English rinnan (“to run”) (with the variants iernan, irnan) and Old Norse rinna (“to move quickly, run; of liquid: to flow, run; to melt”), both from Proto-Germanic *rinnaną, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- (“to move, stir; to rise, spring”); or * a back-formation from earning (“(Britain regional, archaic) rennet”).

## AI Etymology
Earn: Probably either: from Middle English erne, ernen (“to coagulate, congeal”) (chiefly South Midlands) [and other forms], a metathetic variant of rennen (“to run; to coagulate, congeal”), from Old English rinnan (“to run”) (with the variants iernan, irnan) and Old Norse rinna (“to move quickly, run; of liquid: to flow, run; to melt”), both from Proto-Germanic *rinnaną, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- (“to move, stir; to rise, spring”); or a back-formation from earning (“(Britain regional, archaic) rennet”).

## Topics
- Actions & Processes

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