microloan

IPA/ˈmaɪ.krəʊ.ləʊn/
IPA/ˈmaɪ.kroʊ.loʊn/

microloan — noun

  • microloansingular
  • microloansplural

1. a very small sum of money lent at low interest, usually to someone starting a ti

1.nounC1
Definition

a very small sum of money lent at low interest, usually to someone starting a tiny business in a poor area who cannot borrow from a regular bank.

Example

Mayumi used a $200 microloan to buy a sewing machine and start her tailoring shop.

use a microloan to + verb (state purpose)

The charity offers microloans to farmers in rural Bangladesh who own only a small plot of land.

offer microloans to + group (typical agent + recipient)

Common collocations
  • offer microloans
  • repay a microloan
  • apply for a microloan
  • a microloan program
  • qualify for a microloan
Synonyms
  • microcredit

    near-synonym; often refers to the whole lending system rather than one specific loan

  • small-business loan

    broader; can be much larger and is not tied to poverty-reduction contexts

Grammar Patterns

receive/get/give/offer a microloan

a microloan of [amount]

microloan from/to

Usage Note

Typically refers to amounts under a few thousand dollars; almost always discussed in the context of poverty reduction, developing economies, or first-time entrepreneurs who lack collateral. Plural 'microloans' is common when describing a program rather than a single transaction.

Common Mistakes

The bank gave the corporation a microloan of two million dollars.
The bank gave the corporation a loan of two million dollars.
'microloan' implies a very small amount, typically under a few thousand dollars; large sums are just 'loans'.
Joaquín borrowed a microloan from his cousin to fix his car.
Joaquín borrowed money from his cousin to fix his car.
microloans come from a lending institution or program, not from friends or family.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

These three terms all describe lending money to small borrowers, but the scale and context differ sharply. A 'microloan' is one specific small sum, usually under a few thousand dollars, given to a particular borrower in a poverty-reduction setting. 'Microcredit' is the umbrella system that issues such loans — when people say 'microcredit changed rural India', they mean the whole lending model, not one transaction. A 'small-business loan' is the broadest term: it can run from a few thousand dollars up to several hundred thousand and is issued by ordinary commercial banks to any small company, with no implication of poverty. So a village seamstress who borrows two hundred dollars from a charity has taken out a microloan, funded by a microcredit program; a suburban café owner who borrows fifty thousand dollars from a bank has taken out a small-business loan.

microloan ↗microcredit ↗small-business loan

Common collocations

Nouns

  • microloan program
  • microloan scheme
  • microloan recipient
  • microloan provider

Phrases

  • qualify for a microloan
  • default on a microloan
  • issue a microloan

Prepositions

  • microloan from
  • microloan to
  • microloan of

Etymology

Greek (mikros)English (micro-)Old Norse (lan) → English (loan)English (microloan)

Formed in late twentieth-century English by attaching the Greek-derived prefix 'micro-' (meaning 'very small') to the everyday noun 'loan'. The term spread alongside the rise of microfinance institutions in the 1970s and 1980s, particularly Bangladesh's Grameen Bank, which popularised tiny loans to poor entrepreneurs as a development tool.