Link Centre Dictionary

earn

UK/ɜːn/ US/ɝn/ common uk

verb

1.

earn on some commercial or business transaction; earn as salary or wages

  • “How much do you make a month in your new job?”
  • “She earns a lot in her new job”
  • “this merger brought in lots of money”
  • “He clears $5,000 each month”
Synonyms
2.

acquire or deserve by one''s efforts or actions

Synonyms

Origin

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”).

Phrases

  • earn a crust
  • earn a living
  • earn one's corn
  • earn one's crust
  • earn one's keep
  • earn one's spurs
  • earn one's stripes
  • earn one's wings

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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Related verbs

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.