A borrower is someone who receives something temporarily with the understanding they will return it later. When you borrow a book from the library, you become a borrower: the library trusts you to bring the book back by the due date. When you borrow a pencil from a classmate, you're a borrower who should return it at the end of class.

The word most often appears in financial contexts. When someone takes out a loan to buy a house or start a business, they become a borrower who must repay the money, usually with extra money called interest. Banks and other lenders evaluate borrowers carefully before lending money, checking whether they have a history of paying debts on time.

Being a responsible borrower means taking good care of what you've borrowed and returning it when promised. If you borrow your friend's video game and return it scratched or late, you've been a careless borrower. If you borrow money from your parents for a special purchase and pay it back as agreed, you've shown you can be trusted as a borrower.

The opposite of a borrower is a lender, the person or organization that provides the money or item. A famous saying goes, “Neither a borrower nor a lender be,” though in practice, borrowing responsibly is a normal part of life.