To rent something means to pay money to use it for a limited time without owning it. When your family rents an apartment, you pay the landlord each month for the right to live there, but the landlord still owns the building. You might rent a kayak for an afternoon at the lake, or rent ice skates at a rink. Libraries let you borrow books for free, but video stores used to rent movies for a small fee.

The word works both ways: landlords rent out their properties to tenants, and tenants rent those properties from landlords. The money paid is called rent (used as a noun): “The rent is due on the first of each month.”

Renting is common when you need something temporarily or when buying it would be too expensive or unnecessary. A construction company might rent expensive equipment for one project rather than buying machines they'd rarely use. Families sometimes rent homes instead of buying one.

The word can also mean to tear or split something, though this meaning is less common today. You might read in an old book about fabric being rent in two, or hear the phrase “rend your garments” in historical or biblical contexts, meaning to tear your clothes in grief or anger.