owe
English
/əʊ/, /oʊ/
verb
Definitions
- (transitive) To be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone.
- (intransitive) To have debt; to be in debt.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English owen inherited from Old English āgan (own, possess) inherited from Proto-Germanic *aiganą (possess, own, have) inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eh₂óyḱe (own, possess), *h₂eyḱ- (possession, ability, possess, own, have).
Origin
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂eyḱ-
Gloss
possession, ability, possess, own, have
Concept
Semantic Field
Social and political relations
Ontological Category
Person/Thing
Emoji
Timeline
Distribution of cognates by language
Geogrpahic distribution of cognates
Cognates and derived terms
- ought English
- oughtest English
- oughteth English
- oughtism English
- oughtn't English
- oughtness English
- ower English
- owest English
- oweth English
- own English
- *h₂eh₂óyḱe Proto-Indo-European
- *h₂eyḱ- Proto-Indo-European
- eie Norwegian Bokmål
- eiendel Norwegian Bokmål
- eier Norwegian Bokmål
- statseid Norwegian Bokmål
- *aiganaz Proto-Germanic
- *aiganą Proto-Germanic
- *aigin Proto-Germanic
- *aigô Proto-Germanic
- *aihtiz Proto-Germanic
- *fra- Proto-Germanic
- agan Old English
- agend Old English
- agenung Old English
- nagan Old English
- āgan Old English
- āgen Old English
- āhte Old English
- ईश Sanskrit
- ईश् Sanskrit
- ऐश्वर्य Sanskrit
- oughte Middle English
- owen Middle English
- owere Middle English
- eiga Old Norse
- eign Old Norse
- almeneje Danish
- eje Danish
- ejendel Danish
- ejestedord Danish
- vrachten Middle Dutch
- 𐌰𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌽 Gothic
- *eigan Old Dutch
- *HiHćás Proto-Indo-Iranian
- eghæ Old Danish