earn

Forms

1.To gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work.
- You can have the s'mores: you earned them, clearing the walkway of snow so well.
- With their hard work and dedication, they earned respect and a seat at the table.
2.To receive payment for work or for a role or position held (regardless of whether effort was applied or whether the remuneration is deserved or commensurate).
- He earns seven million dollars a year as CEO. My bank account is only earning one percent interest.
- She earns more than forty thousand dollars a year in passive income from her parents' investments, that's what she gets before she even gets out of bed or lifts a finger.
3.To receive payment for work.
- Now that you are earning, you can start paying me rent.
4.To cause (someone) to receive payment or reward.
- In that era, all their long, hard, dangerous labor in the mines barely earned them even enough to eat!
- My CD earns me six percent!

Common· #1350

From Middle English ernen, from Old English earnian, from Proto-West Germanic *aʀanōn, from Proto-Germanic *azanōną.

This verb is denominal from the noun *azaniz (“harvest”).