learn
UK /lɜːn/ · US /lɝn/ verb, noun, proper noun
Forms learns learning learned learnt learnest learnedst learneth larn learne
- verb To acquire, or attempt to acquire knowledge or an ability to do something.
- verb To attend a course or other educational activity.
- verb To gain knowledge from a bad experience so as to improve. “learn from one's mistakes”
- verb To study. “I learn medicine.”
- verb To come to know; to become informed of; to find out. “He just learned that he will be sacked.”
- verb (now only in non-standard speech and dialects) To teach. “Give him a clip round the ear. That'll learn him!”
- noun The act of learning something.
- proper noun A surname from Scottish Gaelic.
Synonyms
study larn acquire hear get word get wind pick up find out get a line discover see memorize memorise con read take teach instruct determine check ascertain watch
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English lernen (“to learn", also, "to teach"”), from Old English leornian (“to learn", rarely also, "to teach”), from Proto-West Germanic *liʀnōn, from Proto-Germanic *lizaną, from Proto-Indo-European *(le-)lóys-e, stative from the root *leys- (“track, furrow, trace, trail”).
The spelling with ⟨ea⟩ is of Early Modern English origin and reflects a lengthening of /ɛ~e/ to /eː/ before /rn/ in Late Old English or Early Middle English, then later lowering to /ɛː/; the modern pronunciation reflects still later reshortening.
Cognate with Old Frisian lernia, lerna (“to learn”), Middle Low German lernen (“to learn", also, "to teach”), Middle Dutch leernen (“to learn", also, "to teach”) (whence Dutch lernen (“to study scripture”)), German lernen (“to learn”). See also lore and lear.
Possibly a reduced form of McLaren.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To gain knowledge or information of; to ascertain by inquiry, study, or investigation; to receive instruction concerning; to fix in the mind; to acquire understanding of, or skill; as, to learn the way; to learn a lesson; to learn dancing; to learn to skate; to learn the violin; to learn the truth about something. "Learn to do well." Is. i. 17.
- verb To communicate knowledge to; to teach. [Obs.]
- verb To acquire knowledge or skill; to make progress in acquiring knowledge or skill; to receive information or instruction; as, this child learns quickly.
Etymology [OE. lernen, leornen, AS. leornian; akin to OS. linon, for lirnon, OHG. lirnen, lernen, G. lernen, fr. the root of AS. l to teach, OS. lerian, OHG.leran, G. lehren, Goth. laisjan, also Goth lais I know, leis acquainted (in comp.); all prob. from a root meaning, to go, go over, and hence, to learn; cf. AS. leoran to go . Cf. Last a mold of the foot, lore.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “learn”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details