來自古英語agan,擁有，所有，來自Proto-Germanic*aigan,占有，來自PIE*aik,掌握，掌管，詞源同ought,own.其現義來自古英語習語agan to geldanne,用擁有的去支付或償還，即own to yield.從而與own產生詞義上的差別。
英文詞源
owe
owe: [OE] Owe goes back to a prehistoric Indo- European base *oik-, *ik- denoting ‘possession’. Its Germanic descendant *aig- produced a range of ‘possession’-verbs, none of which now survives except Swedish ?ga, Danish eie, and English owe. In the Old English period this meant ‘possess’, but that sense was gradually taken over by the related own, and owe developed in the 12th century to ‘have to repay’. A more general notion of ‘obligation’ also emerged, which is now restricted to ought, originally the past tense of owe. => ought, own
owe (v.)
Old English agan (past tense ahte) "to have, own," from Proto-Germanic *aigan "to possess" (cognates: Old Frisian aga, Old Norse eiga, Old High German eigan, Gothic aigan "to possess, have"), from PIE *aik- "to be master of, possess" (cognates: Sanskrit ise "he owns," isah "owner, lord, ruler;" Avestan is- "riches," isvan- "well-off, rich").
Sense of "to have to repay" began in late Old English with the phrase agan to geldanne literally "to own to yield," which was used to translate Latin debere (earlier in Old English this would have been sceal "shall"); by late 12c. the phrase had been shortened to simply agan, and own (v.) took over this word's original sense.
An original Germanic preterite-present verb (along with can (v.1), dare, may, etc.). New past tense form owed arose 15c. to replace oughte, which developed into ought (v.).
雙語例句
1. I'm broke, Livy, and I owe a couple of million dollars.
我破產了，莉薇，而且我欠了幾百萬美元的債。
來自柯林斯例句
2. I owe a big debt of gratitude to her.
我對她萬分感激。
來自柯林斯例句
3. You owe a certain person a sum of money.
你欠某人一筆錢。
來自柯林斯例句
4. 85 percent of all American households owe money on mortgages.
85%的美國家庭背有按揭債務.
來自柯林斯例句
5. You owe it to yourself to get some professional help.