Usura

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The act of charging excessively high interest on loans poses a risk to borrowers' financial stability
2. This term refers to the unethical lending practice that imposes significant interest rates, often leading to borrower exploitation
3. The practice of imposing exorbitant interest on borrowed funds can severely impact the financial health of individuals

Etymology: "Usura" was the Latin word for the use of money, meaning interest paid on a loan, and its core sense was simply "use" or "employment." It came from "ūtor," "to use," so a loan's interest was, at root, the price of having the use of someone else's money. The Latin noun was built from the verb's stem "ūs-" plus the suffix "-ūra," which turns verbs into nouns of action or result. English borrowed the word directly from Latin, and it kept the Latin sense of charging for the use of money. Over time, though, the word picked up a negative charge: "usury" came to mean lending at excessive or unlawful rates, and the neutral idea of interest faded. The root meaning of "use" is still visible in the way the word connects to the ordinary idea of using something that belongs to another.

Synonyms: interest, usury