Meanings
present singular third person owes · participle present owing · past owed · archaic past ought · participle past owed · archaic participle past ought · archaic participle past own
- ditransitiveTo be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone.
I owe Kevin five bucks which he lent to me last week.
5 more examples
We owe it to our children to make our nation a better place to live in the future.
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[…] To you, Antonio, I owe the most, in money and in love; And from your love I have a warranty To unburden all my plots and purposes How to get clear of all the debts I owe.
c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene 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 - intransitiveTo have debt; to be in debt.
- transitiveTo have as a cause; used with to.
The record owes its success to the outstanding guitar solos.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂eyḱ-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂eh₂óyḱe
- Proto-Germanic*aiganą
- Proto-West Germanic*aigan
- Old Englishāgan
- Middle Englishowen
- Englishowe
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”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ὀφείλω
- ὀφείλω (opheílō)to be in debt
Bulgarian задължен съм, дължа
- задължен съм (zadălžen săm)to be under an obligation
- дължа (dălža)to be in debt
Catalan deure, deure
- deureto be under an obligation
- deureto be in debt
Chinese Cantonese 欠
- 欠 (him³)to be in debt
Chinese Mandarin 欠, 欠債 /欠债
- 欠 (qiàn)to be in debt
- 欠債 /欠债 (qiànzhài)to be in debt
Czech dlužit
- dlužitto be in debt
Danish skylde
- skyldeto be in debt
Dutch schuldig zijn, schuldig zijn
- schuldig zijnto be under an obligation
- schuldig zijnto be in debt
Esperanto ŝuldi
- ŝuldito be under an obligation
Finnish olla velkaa, olla velkaa
- olla velkaato be under an obligation
- olla velkaato be in debt
- olla veloissato be in debt
French devoir, devoir
- devoirto be under an obligation
- devoirto be in debt
German schulden, schuldig sein
- schuldento be under an obligation
- schuldig seinto be under an obligation
- schuldento be in debt
- schuldig seinto be in debt
Greek χρωστάω, χρωστώ
- χρωστάω (chrostáo)to be under an obligation
- χρωστώ (chrostó)to be under an obligation
Hebrew חב, היה חייב
- חב (khav)to be under an obligation
- היה חייב (hayá khayáv)to be under an obligation
- היה חייב (hayá khayáv)to be in debt
Hungarian tartozik (with -nak/-nek), tartozik
- tartozik (with -nak/-nek)to be under an obligation
- tartozikto be in debt
Indonesian tagih
- tagihto be under an obligation
Irish bí ar, bí ar
- bí arto be under an obligation
- bí arto be in debt
Italian dovere, dovere
- dovereto be under an obligation
- dovereto be in debt
- essere in debitoto be in debt
Japanese 借りがある, 負う
- 借りがある (kari ga aru)to be in debt
- 負う (ou)to be in debt
Korean 빚지고 있다
- 빚지고 있다 (bitjigo itda)to be in debt
Latin dēbeō, dēbeō
- dēbeōto be under an obligation
- dēbeōto be in debt
Malay berhutang
- berhutangto be in debt
Norwegian skylde
- skyldeto be in debt
Persian مدیون بودن, بدهکار بودن
- مدیون بودن (madyun budan)to be under an obligation
- بدهکار بودن (bedehkâr budan)to be under an obligation
- بدهکار بودن (bedehkâr budan)to be in debt
Polish być zobowiązany, zawdzięczać
- być zobowiązanyto be under an obligation
- zawdzięczaćto be under an obligation
- mieć długto be in debt
- być winnymto be in debt
- winićto be in debt
Portuguese dever, dever
- deverto be under an obligation
- deverto be in debt
Romanian datora, datora
- datorato be under an obligation
- datorato be in debt
Russian быть до́лжным, быть обя́занным
- быть до́лжным (bytʹ dólžnym)to be under an obligation
- быть обя́занным (bytʹ objázannym)to be under an obligation
- быть в долгу́ (bytʹ v dolgú)to be under an obligation
- до́лжен (dólžen)to be in debt
- должна́ (dolžná)to be in debt
- должны́ (dolžný)to be in debt
- быть до́лжным (bytʹ dólžnym)to be in debt
- быть в долгу́ (bytʹ v dolgú)to be in debt
- задолжа́ть (zadolžátʹ)to be in debt
Spanish deber, adeudar
- deberto be under an obligation
- adeudarto be under an obligation
- estar en deudato be in debt
- deberto be in debt
- adeudarto be in debt
Swedish vara skyldig, vara skyldig
- vara skyldigto be under an obligation
- vara skyldigto be in debt
Turkish borçlu olmak
- borçlu olmakto be in debt
Ukrainian ви́нен, ви́нна
- ви́нен (výnen)to be under an obligation
- ви́нна (výnna)to be under an obligation
- ви́нні (výnni)to be under an obligation
- бу́ти ви́нним (búty výnnym)to be under an obligation
- му́сити (músyty)to be under an obligation
- пови́нний (povýnnyj)to be under an obligation
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with owe
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
owe. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/owe
“owe.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/owe. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “owe,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/owe.
Source: owe on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.