Learnt

/lɜːrnt/ verb

Definition

Past tense of learn; the British English spelling (American English typically uses 'learned').

Etymology

From Old English leornian and Old Saxon lornon. The -t ending is a regular past tense formation in Old English that survives in British English while American English shifted to -ed.

Kelly Says

British and American English diverged on whether to say 'learnt' or 'learned' around the 1700s when America was developing its own standard, and both are technically correct, but Americans chose the newer -ed form while Britain kept the older -t.

Related Words

Explore More Words

Get the Word Orb API

Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.