owe

verb

ˈō How to pronounce owe (audio)
owed; owing

transitive verb

1
a(1)
: to be under obligation to pay or repay in return for something received : be indebted in the sum of
owes me $5
(2)
: to be under obligation to render (something, such as duty or service)
I owe you a favor.
A lawyer owes her client legal advice.
b
: to be indebted to
owes the grocer for supplies
2
: to be indebted for
owed his wealth to his father
owes much to good luck
3
a
: to have or bear (an emotion or attitude) to someone or something
owes the boss a grudge
owes his friend an apology
They owe allegiance to their country.
Children owe their parents respect.
b
archaic : possess, own

intransitive verb

1
: to be in debt
owes for his house
2
: to be attributable
an idea that owes to Greek philosophy
Phrases
owe it
: to have a responsibility to do something to satisfy an obligation or duty
owes it to voters to explain his reasons
I owed it to her to give her this opportunity—Colin MacIness

Examples of owe in a Sentence

We owe no income tax. I owe the bank a lot of money. Additional payments are owed on the mortgage. I still owe on the car. I owe you a drink. I owe you my thanks. She still owes me for all the times I've helped her out.
Recent Examples on the Web If their income or eligibility for premium tax credits is misrepresented, some people end up owing back taxes. —Julie Appleby, NPR, 8 Apr. 2024 At this point in his career, Springsteen doesn’t owe anybody anything. —Daniel Kohn, SPIN, 5 Apr. 2024 Musselman owes Arkansas a $1 million buyout for resigning to take the USC job. —Bob Holt, arkansasonline.com, 5 Apr. 2024 The case is still working its way through bankruptcy, but Hankey said much of what his company is owed has been paid back. —Laurence Darmiento, Los Angeles Times, 3 Apr. 2024 That sudden shift, Jain said, owes itself partly to the language of these new laws which would have previously struggled to stand up to legal scrutiny. —Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 3 Apr. 2024 But there’s an automatic pause — in legalese, a stay — if the person or entity obtains a bond guaranteeing payment of what’s owed. —Michael R. Sisak, Fortune, 2 Apr. 2024 But depending on the results of a complex revenue-sharing agreement that would run for 10 years, the city could owe as much as $60 million in reimbursement costs for the electrical infrastructure the contractor installs. —David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Apr. 2024 The organ owed its vitality to this machine, which was preserving it for transplantation into a needy patient. —Ted Alcorn, New York Times, 2 Apr. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'owe.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English aghen, aughen, ouen, ouwen "to have, possess, own, owe (money, a debt), be obligated to render, be supposed to, ought," going back to Old English āgan (1st &3rd singular present tense āh, āg, plural āgon, past tense āhte, past participle āgen) "to possess, own, have, come into possession of, have as an obligation," going back to Germanic *aigan- "to possess" (whence also Old Frisian āga, ēga "to possess, be obligated to," Old Saxon ēgan "to have, possess," Middle Dutch eigen, Old High German eigan, Old Icelandic eiga, Gothic aigan), going back to a reduplicated perfect *He-Hói̯ḱ-/He-Hiḱ- of an Indo-European verbal base *Heiḱ- "appropriate, acquire," whence also Sanskrit ī́śe "(s/he) owns, possesses, is master of," Avestan ise "(s/he) is lord over," and perhaps Tocharian B aik- "know, recognize" (assuming a shift in sense from physical possession to mental possession)

Note: Old English āgan was a preterit-present verb, as were the modal auxiliaries which survive in Modern English as can entry 1, shall, must entry 1, may;1, etc. In Middle English the weak past tense forms oȝte, oughte, etc., descended from Old English āhte, gradually lost tense reference and transitioned to an independent modal verb, continued into Modern English as ought entry 1. (The original senses "owe" and "own, possess" survived longer in Scots ought, aucht, aicht, etc.—see ought entry 2.) As this occurred, a regularized past tense and participle oued appeared. The sense "be obligated to pay, owe" and more generally "be obliged to, have to" arose already in Old English: in the Lindisfarne Gospels agan to gyldenne "have (something) to pay" was used to gloss Latin dēbēre "to be obliged to render, owe"—hence redde quod debes "pay me that thou owest" (Matthew 18:28, KJV) was rendered "geld [money] þæt ðu aht to geldanne." (An edition of the Old English Gospels based on the Corpus Christi College, Cambridge manuscript has "Agyf þæt þu me scealt," using a form of the modal verb sceal shall to render dēbēre). This semantic shift is parallel to that of have, by which "to have something to do" is in effect reanalyzed as "to have to do something." — Compare also own entry 1.

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 3b

Time Traveler
The first known use of owe was before the 12th century

Phrases Containing owe

Dictionary Entries Near owe

owd

owe

owe a debt of gratitude/thanks to

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Owe.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/owe. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.

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Kids Definition

owe

verb
ˈō How to pronounce owe (audio)
owed; owing
1
a
: to be obligated to pay or repay
owes me $5
b
: to be indebted to
owes the grocer for supplies
c
: to be in debt
owes for her house
2
: to have or possess as something obtained from or given to
owes much to good luck

More from Merriam-Webster on owe

Nglish: Translation of owe for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of owe for Arabic Speakers

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