learn
/lɜːn//lɝn/
learn verb: to acquire, or attempt to acquire knowledge or an ability to do something.
Verb
learn (third-person singular simple present learns, present participle learning, simple past and past participle learned or learnt)
- 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.
- To attend a course or other educational activity.
- For, as he took delight to introduce me, I took delight to learn.1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC
- To gain knowledge from a bad experience so as to improve.
- learn from one's mistakes
- To study.
- I learn medicine.
- They learn psychology.
- 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!
- And whan she had serched hym
she fond in the bottome of his wound that therin was poyson
And soo she heled hym[…]
and therfore Tramtrist cast grete loue to la beale Isoud
for she was at that tyme the fairest mayde and lady of the worlde
And there Tramtryst lerned her to harpe
and she beganne to...1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter IX, in Le Morte Darthur, book VIII
Noun
learn (plural learns)
- 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[…]2003, Gregory A. Raymer, The Woodie Chronicles: My Journey Through America on the road t recovery in a 1949 Woodie Wagon
Proper noun capitalized: Learn
Learn (plural Learns)
- A surname from Scottish Gaelic.
learn meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
learn in Hindi
- to acquire knowledge or ability
- सीखना sīkhnā
learn in Tamil
- to acquire knowledge or ability
- கல் kal
learn in Marathi
- to acquire knowledge or ability
- शिकणे śikṇe
- to make use of a bad experience
- शिकणे śikṇe
- to come to know; to become informed of; to find out
- कळणे kaḷṇe
learn in Urdu
- to acquire knowledge or ability
- سیکھنا sīkhnā
More languagesFewer languages
- learn in Bengali
- শেখা śekha
- learn in Telugu
- నేర్చుకొను nērcukonu, తెలుసుకొను telusukonu
- learn in Malayalam
- പഠിക്കുക paṭhikkuka, കൽക്കുക kalkkuka, വായിക്കുക vāyikkuka
- learn in Kannada
- ಕಲಿ kali
- learn in Punjabi
- ਸਿੱਖਣਾ sikkhaṇā, سکھنا sikkhṇā
- learn in Gujarati
- શીખવું śīkhvũ, ભણવું bhaṇvũ
- learn in Odia
- ଶିଖିବା śikhibā, ପଢ଼ିବା paṛhibā
- learn in Sanskrit
- शिक्षति śikṣati
- learn in Sinhala
- ඉගෙනගන්නවා igenagannawā
- learn in Assamese
- শিকা xika
- learn in Nepali
- सिक्नु siknu
- learn in Pashto
- زده کول zda këwël
- learn in Arabic
- تَعَلَّمَ taʕallama, اِعْتَبَرَ iʕtabara, اِتَّعَظَ ittaʕaẓa
- learn in Malay
- belajar
- learn in Indonesian
- belajar
- learn in Persian
- یاد گرفتن yâd gereftan, آموختن âmuxtan
- learn in Thai
- เรียน riian, ศึกษา sʉ̀k-sǎa, เรียนรู้ riian-rúu
- learn in Vietnamese
- học, học tập
- learn in Myanmar
- သင်ကြား sangkra:, သင် sang
Examples of learn in a sentence
- Toddlers learn to walk at around one year old.
- a school in which he learns sly circumvention1782–1785, William Cowper, “(please specify the page)”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC:
- I was very impressed with the obvious amount of work that went into the learning and synchronization of such a complex and harmonically and difficult score.1987 April 18, Tom Grabosky, “Gay Men's Voices Rise Up Singin'”, in Gay Community News, page 7:
- I have learned far more from them about how to be a scientist than they realize.1988, Mark Andre Peter Loranc, “Acknowledgements”, in A Study of the Ionospheric Signature of Ion Supply from the Ionosphere to the...
- Every day I learn more about this great city.2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
Synonyms of learn
Antonyms
Forms of learn
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | learns |
| present participle | learning |
| past participle | learned |
| past | learned |
| past participle | learnt |
| past | learnt |
| alternative Northumbria | larn |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | learnest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | learnedst |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | learneth |
| alternative form (obsolete) | learne |
| Noun | |
| plural | learns |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Learns |
Origin of learn
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.
Words formed from learn
- 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
Phrases with learn
Words that rhyme with learn
Questions about learn
- What does learn mean?
- Learn means to acquire, or attempt to acquire knowledge or an ability to do something.
- What is learn in Hindi?
- Learn in Hindi is सीखना (sīkhnā). See Learn meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use learn in a sentence?
- Toddlers learn to walk at around one year old.
- What part of speech is learn?
- Learn can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce learn?
- Learn is pronounced /lɜːn/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of learn?
- The past tense of learn is learned.
Words near learn in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: learn (page history and authors); Learn (page history and authors); കൽക്കുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); سکھنا (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ભણવું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ପଢ଼ିବା (Odia) (page history and authors); زده کول (Pashto) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-to learn.ogg, en-us-learn.ogg.
Cite this entry: “learn.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/learn. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.