owe
UK/əʊ//oʊ/
owe verb: to be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone.
Verb
owe (third-person singular simple present owes, present participle owing, simple past owed or (archaic) ought, past participle owed or (archaic) ought or (archaic) own)
- To be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone.
- We owe it to our children to make our nation a better place to live in the future.
- I owe Kevin five bucks which he lent to me last week.
- To have debt; to be in debt.
- To have as a cause; used with to.
- The record owes its success to the outstanding guitar solos.
owe meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
owe in Tamil
- எழுதியதின் மேலெழுதல், தருதல்
owe in Urdu
- to owe
- احسان مند ہونا ehsān mand honā
owe in Bengali
- owe
- ধারা dhara
owe in Malayalam
- കടപ്പെട്ടിരിക്കുക, ബാദ്ധ്യതയുണ്ടായിരിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
- owe in Kannada
- ಹಂಗಿನಲ್ಲಿರು, ಸಾಲದಲ್ಲಿರು, ಸಾಲಬೀಳು, ಋಣಿಯಾಗಿರು
- owe in Malay
- berhutang
- owe in Indonesian
- tagih
- owe in Persian
- مدیون بودن madyun budan, بدهکار بودن bedehkâr budan
Examples of owe in a sentence
- This time I'll cover for you, but now you owe me a favour.
- VVe owe God a death, and we can but die:1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], →OCLC, Act I:
- He inherited a fair fortune from his uncle, but owed it all before he came into it, and spent it twice over immediately afterwards.1854, Charles Dickens, chapter 7, in Hard Times. For These Times, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC:
Forms of owe
| third-person singular present | owes |
|---|---|
| present participle | owing |
| past | owed |
| past participle | owed |
| past (archaic) | ought |
| past participle (archaic) | ought |
| past participle (archaic) | own |
Origin of owe
From Middle English owen, from Old English āgan, from Proto-West Germanic *aigan (“to own”), from Proto-Germanic *aiganą, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eh₂óyḱe (“to possess, own”), reduplicated stative of *h₂eyḱ- (“to own”). See also own, ought. Cognate with Sanskrit ईष्टे (īṣṭe, “to own, possess”).
Words formed from owe
Words that rhyme with owe
Questions about owe
- What does owe mean?
- Owe means to be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone.
- What is owe in Tamil?
- Owe in Tamil is எழுதியதின் மேலெழுதல், தருதல். See Owe meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use owe in a sentence?
- This time I'll cover for you, but now you owe me a favour.
- What part of speech is owe?
- Owe is a verb.
- How do you pronounce owe?
- Owe is pronounced /əʊ/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of owe?
- The past tense of owe is owed.
Words near owe in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: owe (page history and authors); owe (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); احسان مند ہونا (Urdu) (page history and authors); ধারা (Bengali) (page history and authors); owe (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); owe (Kannada Wiktionary) (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-owe.ogg.
Cite this entry: “owe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/owe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.