# learn

> English word · Verb · IPA /lɜːn/ · frequency rank #698

## Definitions
1. To acquire, or attempt to acquire knowledge or an ability to do something.
2. To attend a course or other educational activity.
3. To gain knowledge from a bad experience so as to improve.
4. To study.
5. To come to know; to become informed of; to find out.
6. To teach.

## Etymology
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”).
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.

## Easily confused with
- **Len** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/learn-vs-len)
- **loan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/learn-vs-loan)
- **liar** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/learn-vs-liar)
- **Leon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/learn-vs-leon)
- **Lian** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/learn-vs-lian)
- **leer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/learn-vs-leer)
- **least** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/learn-vs-least)
- **leave** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/learn-vs-leave)
- **lease** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/learn-vs-lease)
- **lemon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/learn-vs-lemon)
- **leash** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/learn-vs-leash)
- **Lenin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/learn-vs-lenin)
- **levin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/learn-vs-levin)
- **leary** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/learn-vs-leary)
- **Lewin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/learn-vs-lewin)
- **leery** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/learn-vs-leery)
- **learnt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/learn-vs-learnt)
- **learned** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/learn-vs-learned)
- **learner** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/learn-vs-learner)
- **LAN** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lan-vs-learn)

## Common misspellings (7)
`elarn`, `laern`, `leanr`, `learnn`, `learrn`, `leran`, `llearn`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/learn