Plural of lender: people or organizations that give money to others with the expectation that it will be repaid, usually with interest.
From the verb 'lend' (Old English 'lænan,' from Proto-Germanic 'laihnaz' meaning 'to loan') plus the agent suffix '-er.' The word has maintained its basic meaning for over a thousand years in English.
The oldest known loan records are cuneiform tablets from ancient Mesopotamia (3000 BCE) documenting loans of barley and silver with interest rates—so the concept of lenders and interest is literally one of humanity's oldest record-keeping needs, predating money itself.
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