learn
verbEtymology
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”). 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.
Definitions
To acquire, or attempt to acquire knowledge or an ability to do something.
- It's time Dad learned (how) to change the oil in the car.
- In my latest job, I've learnt to keep my mouth shut more than in the last one.
- Toddlers learn to walk at around one year old.
To attend a course or other educational activity.
- For, as he took delight to introduce me, I took delight to learn.
To gain knowledge from a bad experience so as to improve.
- learn from one's mistakes
›+ 5 more definitionsshow fewer
To study.
- I learn medicine.
- They learn psychology.
To come to know
To come to know; to become informed of; to find out.
- He just learned that he will be sacked.
To teach.
- Give him a clip round the ear. That'll learn him!
- Sweete Prince, you learne me noble thankfulnes: […]
The act of learning something.
- I did a quick learn of the place by watching the people shuffle in. There was a healthy mix of beautiful and freaky people, who shared a few common denominators[…]
A surname from Scottish Gaelic.
The neighborhood
Derived
belearn, forelearn, learnability, learnable, learn Arabic, learn Chinese, learned, learner, learnfare, learn from experience, learnification, learning, learnling, learn one's lesson, learn one's place, learn the hard way, learn the ropes, learn to walk before one can run, learny, lessons learned, live and learn, lunch-and-learn, mislearn, must-learn, outlearn, overlearn, relearn, that'll learn someone, unlearn, who keeps company with the wolf will learn to howl, you are never too old to learn, you learn something new every day, you're never too old to learn
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at learn. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at learn. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
8 hops · closes at learn
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA