learn

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /lɜːn/, US /lɝːn/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English lernen, inherited from Old English leornian (“to get knowledge, be cultivated; to study”),^[2][3] from Proto-Germanic *liznōjanan,^[3] with a base sense “to follow or find the track”.^[2][4] Its cognates include Old Frisian lernia, Old Saxon līnōn and German lernen,^[3][5] and Gothic has lais “I know”.^[2][4] Watkins traces it to Proto-Indo-European *leis- (“furrow, track”),^[2][6] and outside Germanic it is related to Latin līra (“furrow”).^[3][7] The same base is in lore and in last “shoemaker's model of a foot”, from Old English lǣst (“footprint”),^[2][8][9] and in the causative Old English lǣran (“to teach”), the source of lere.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To acquire knowledge of a subject or a skill: Old English leornian, recorded before 725,^[3] and about 900 in the OED's earliest quotation.^[10]

Semantic evolution

“To find out, hear of” a fact is from about 1200.^[2][10] The transitive sense “to teach” (he learned me to read) is from about 1200 as well, and was acceptable until the early 19th century;^[2] it is now dialectal or vulgar.^[9][5] The English Dialect Dictionary records it in Scotland, Ireland and many English counties, often in forms such as larn and lairn.^[11] The old passive participle survives in the adjective learned, “having knowledge gained by study”,^[2] which in the 16th century took over the sense of Middle English lēred, from lēren “to teach”.^[9] I am yet to learn, “I don't know”, is from 1687,^[10] and learning curve and learning disability are later compounds.^[1]

Timeline

• before 725 – Old English leornian.^[3]
• c. 1200 – to find out; to teach.^[2][10]
• 16th century – the adjective learned, erudite.^[9]
• 1687 – I am yet to learn.^[10]
• early 19th century – learn “teach” falls out of standard use.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To gain knowledge of, or skill in, something by study, experience or teaching.
2. To fix in the memory; to memorize.
3. To become aware of; to find out.
4. (nonstandard) To teach.

Word family

• learnable
• learner
• mislearn
• outlearn
• relearn
• learned
• learning
• overlearn

Related words

• lear
• lore
• lere
• last

References

1. ^ a b Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)