Word.ws English Dictionary

lent

/lɛnt/

lent is the alternative letter-case form of Lent.

lent is the simple past and past participle of lend.

Meaning of lend

Verb

lend (third-person singular simple present lends, present participle lending, simple past and past participle lent)

  1. (transitive) To allow to be used by someone temporarily, on condition that it or its equivalent will be returned.
    • I will only lend you my car if you fill up the tank.
  2. (intransitive) To make a loan.
  3. (reflexive) To be suitable or applicable, to fit.
    • Poems do not lend themselves to translation easily.
  4. To afford; to grant or furnish in general.
    • Can you lend me some assistance?
  5. (proscribed) To borrow.

See all 8 meanings of lend

Noun capitalized: Lent

Lent (plural Lents)

  1. A period of the ecclesiastical year preceding Easter, traditionally involving temporary abstention from certain foods and pleasures.
    • Hezekiah gave up vaping for Lent.
    1. The 40 days preceding Lazarus Saturday, the Saturday preceding Holy Week.
    2. The 46 days preceding Easter, reckoned as 40 days by excluding Sundays.
      • This Tuesday and Wednesday, four holidays from different cultures and religions overlap in a rare calendar year. The celebrations of Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) and Lunar New Year both occur on Tuesday, Feb. 17 [2026]. This won't happen again until Feb. 13, 2029, according to the websites...2026 February 16, Alicia Eler, “Lunar New Year, Ramadan and Lent in rare alignment this year. The holidays follow different solar and lunar calendars, but some of them sync up in 2026”, in Minnesota...
  2. (UK, abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of Lent term.
    Synonyms:
    Lententide, Lent season, Lenten season, season of Lent, Quadragesima, Great Lent, Lent term
  3. (Myanmar) vassa, period of the Buddhist lent during the rainy season

Proper noun capitalized: Lent

Lent (plural Lents)

  1. A surname.

Synonyms of lent

Forms of lent

Noun
plurallents
pluralLents
Proper noun
pluralLents

Origin of lent

Shortened form of Lenten, from Old English lencten, from Proto-West Germanic *langatīn (“spring”), as in a season into which days lengthen as it progresses. Cognate with Alemannic German langsé, Langssi (“spring”), Bavarian longas, lòngas, longast (“spring”), Cimbrian langaz, langhes, långez (“spring”), lentz (“March”), Dutch lente (“spring”), German Lenz, Lenze (“spring”), Mòcheno langes (“spring”).

Two main origins: * Reduced form of Dutch van Lent, a habitational surname for someone from Lent, in Gelderland. * Perhaps an Americanized spelling of German Lenth, from a personal name related to the noun Land.

Words formed from lent

Phrases with lent

Words that rhyme with lent

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about lent

What does lent mean?
Lent means a period of the ecclesiastical year preceding Easter, traditionally involving temporary abstention from certain foods and pleasures.
What is lent the alternative letter-case form of?
Lent is the alternative letter-case form of Lent.
What part of speech is lent?
Lent can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce lent?
Lent is pronounced /lɛnt/.
What is the plural of lent?
The plural of lent is lents.

Words near lent in the dictionary

  1. lensometers
  2. lensometry
  3. lensperson
  4. lenswoman
  5. lenswomen
  6. lent
  7. lent a hand
  8. lent an ear
  9. lent itself to
  10. Lent lilies
  11. Lent lily

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lent (page history and authors); Lent (page history and authors); lend (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-us-lent.ogg.

Cite this entry: “lent.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lent. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.