Borrow vs. lend vs. loan

If only I could collect a dime each time these three words were mixed up!

Borrow means to take something with the intention of returning it: Jane asked Jim if she could borrow his pen.

Lend means to grant permission to someone for taking something, with the understanding that it will be returned: Jim told Jane he would lend her his pen.

Loan means to turn over something to someone for their temporary use, usually with the expectation that interest will be paid: The bank would not loan money to Jim so he could start an ink pen company.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past decade, I’ve helped more than 300 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.