learn
pronunciation
How to pronounce learn in British English:
UK [lɜːn]
How to pronounce learn in American English:
US [lɜːrn]
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- Verb:
- acquire or gain knowledge or skills
- get to know or become aware of, usually accidentally
- commit to memory; learn by heart
- be a student of a certain subject
- impart skills or knowledge to
- find out, learn, or determine with certainty, usually by making an inquiry or other effort
Word Origin
- learn
- learn: [OE] Learn comes from a prehistoric West Germanic *liznōjan, which also produced German lernen. This goes back ultimately to an Indo-European *leis- ‘track’, and so seems to carry the underlying notion of ‘gaining experience by following a track’. Very closely related are terms in various Germanic languages for ‘teach’ (German lehren, for instance, and Dutch leeren, Swedish löra, and Danish lære – the last three also mean ‘learn’). English used to have such a verb for ‘teach’ too: lere. It had largely died out by the 19th century, but the related lore ‘knowledge’ [OE] survives.=> last, lore
- learn (v.)
- Old English leornian "to get knowledge, be cultivated, study, read, think about," from Proto-Germanic *liznojan (cognates: Old Frisian lernia, Middle Dutch leeren, Dutch leren, Old High German lernen, German lernen "to learn," Gothic lais "I know"), with a base sense of "to follow or find the track," from PIE *leis- (1) "track, furrow." Related to German Gleis "track," and to Old English læst "sole of the foot" (see last (n.)). The transitive sense (He learned me how to read), now vulgar, was acceptable from c. 1200 until early 19c., from Old English læran "to teach" (cognates: Dutch leren, German lehren "to teach," literally "to make known;" see lore), and is preserved in past participle adjective learned "having knowledge gained by study." Related: Learning.
Example
- 1. Governments must learn to like it .
- 2. Help kids learn and grow .
- 3. Some people will never learn to write .
- 4. Sometimes , you can learn a lot from a single number .
- 5. Gym-goers will be pleased to learn that bicep curls could be a universal panacea !