earn

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English ernen, from Old English earnian, from Proto-West Germanic *aʀanōn, from Proto-Germanic *azanōną.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɜːn/
• (US) enPR: ûrn, IPA^(key): /ɝn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)n
• Homophones: ern, erne, urn

Verb

earn (third-person singular simple present earns, present participle earning, simple past and past participle earned or (chiefly UK) earnt)

1. (transitive) To gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work.

   You can have the s'mores: you earned them, clearing the walkway of snow so well.

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314:

     Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations. It is easily earned repetition to state that Josephine St. Auban's was a presence not to be concealed.

   • 2011 November 12, “International friendly: England 1-0 Spain”, in BBC Sport:

     England will not be catapulted among the favourites for Euro 2012 as a result of this win, but no victory against Spain is earned easily and it is right they take great heart from their efforts as they now prepare to play Sweden at Wembley on Tuesday.

   • Gain definition

     To acquire possession of. (1 of 10 gain definitions)

   • Success definition

     The achievement of one's aim or goal. (1 of 5 success definitions)

   • Effort definition

     The work involved in performing an activity; exertion. (1 of 3 effort definitions)

   • Work definition

     Employment.

     1. Labour, occupation, job. (1 of 19 work definitions)
2. (transitive) To receive payment for work.

   He earns seven million dollars a year as CEO.  My bank account is only earning one percent interest.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

   • Receive definition

     To take, as something that is offered, given, committed, sent, paid, etc.; to accept; to be given something. (1 of 10 receive definitions)
3. (intransitive) To receive payment for work.

   Now that you are earning, you can start paying me rent.

4. (transitive) To cause (someone) to receive payment or reward.

   My CD earns me six percent!

   • 1965, James Holledge, What Makes a Call Girl?, London: Horwitz Publications, page 99:

     '[T]hough I earned her a lot of money, I have nothing but regrets for what I did.'

5. (transitive) To achieve by being worthy of.

   to earn a spot in the top 20

Synonyms

• (gain through applied effort or work): deserve, merit, garner, win
• ((transitive) receive payment for work):
• ((intransitive) receive payment for work):
• (cause someone to receive payment or reward): yield, make, generate, render

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Probably either:^[1]

• 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 rinnen (“to run”) (with the variants iernan, irnan) and Old Norse rinna (“to move quickly, run; of liquid: to flow, run; to melt”),^[2] both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- (“to move, stir; to rise, spring”); or
• a back-formation from earning (“(Britain regional, archaic) rennet”).

Verb

earn (third-person singular simple present earns, present participle earning, simple past and past participle earned) (Britain, dialectal)

1. (transitive, archaic) To curdle (milk), especially in the cheesemaking process.

   Synonyms: run, (Northern England, Scotland) yearn

   • Curdle definition

     To form curds so that it no longer flows smoothly; to cause to form such curds. (usually said of milk) (1 of 3 curdle definitions)

   • Milk definition

     A white liquid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals to nourish their young. From certain animals, especially cows, it is also called dairy milk and is a common food for humans as a beverage or used to produce various dairy products such as butter, cheese, and yogurt. (1 of 7 milk definitions)

   • Cheesemaking definition

     The production of cheese

   • Process definition

     A series of events which produce a result (the product). (1 of 9 process definitions)

   • Run definition

     ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Kirundi.

   • Yearn definition

     To have a strong desire for something or to do something; to long for or to do something. (1 of 8 yearn definitions)
2. (intransitive, obsolete) Of milk: to curdle, espcially in the cheesemaking process.

Etymology 3

A variant of yearn.^[3]

Verb

earn (third-person singular simple present earns, present participle earning, simple past and past participle earned)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To strongly long or yearn (for something or to do something).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book I, canto I, stanza 3:

     And ever as he rode, his hart did earne / To prove his puissance in battell brave.

   • Strongly definition

     In a strong or powerful manner. (1 of 2 strongly definitions)

   • Long definition

     (1 of 10 long definitions)

   • Do definition

     A syntactic marker.

     1. A syntactic marker in a question whose main verb is not another auxiliary verb or be. (1 of 35 do definitions)
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To grieve.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene iii], page 75, column 2:

     [M]y manly heart doth erne. […] Boy, briſsle thy Courage vp: For Falſtaffe hee is dead, and wee muſt erne therefore.

   • Grieve definition

     (1 of 6 grieve definitions)

   • Bristle definition

     A stiff or coarse hair. (1 of 2 bristle definitions)

Etymology 4

Noun

earn (plural earns)

1. Alternative form of erne
   • 1805, Walter Scott, “(please specify the page)”, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A Poem, London: […] [James Ballantyne] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], and A[rchibald] Constable and Co., […], OCLC 1001655651:

     They gleamed on many a dusky tarn ,
     Haunted by the lonely earn

   • Erne definition

     A sea eagle (Haliaeetus), especially the white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) (1 of 2 erne definitions)

References

Anagrams

• Arne, Near, Nera, eRNA, erna, nare, near, rean

Middle English

Noun

earn

1. (Early Middle English) Alternative form of ern (“eagle”)

   • Ern definition

     Alternative spelling of erne

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *arô, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃érō (“eagle, large bird”). Cognate with Old Frisian *ern, Old Saxon *arn, Old Dutch *arn, Old High German arn, Old Norse ǫrn, Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐌰 (ara); and, outside the Germanic languages, with Ancient Greek ὄρνις (órnis, “bird”), Old Armenian որոր (oror, “gull”), Old Irish irar, Lithuanian erẽlis, Old Church Slavonic орьлъ (orĭlŭ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /æ͜ɑrn/, [æ͜ɑrˠn]

Noun

earn m

1. eagle

   • Eagle definition

     Any of several large carnivorous and carrion-eating birds in the family Accipitridae, having a powerful hooked bill and keen vision. (1 of 4 eagle definitions)

Declension

Descendants

• Middle English: ern
  • English: erne
  • Scots: earn, ern, erne

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian *ern, from Proto-Germanic *arô, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃érō.

Noun

earn c (plural earnen, diminutive earntsje)

1. eagle
2. (figuratively) miser

   • Miser definition

     A person who hoards money rather than spending it; one who is cheap or extremely parsimonious. (1 of 2 miser definitions)

Further reading

• “earn”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011