Word · CEFR B1 · Frequency #2323
owe
欠；欠债
To be in debt to someone; to need to pay back money or return a favor.
- 1.
To have debt; to be in debt.
欠债；负有债务。
- 2.
To have as a cause; used with to.
归因于；归功于；由于(与to连用)。
把…归功于；归因于；欠债；负有债务。；归因于；归功于；由于(与to连用)。；亏欠；负...债
In use
I owe my friend $50 for the concert tickets.
She owes her success to hard work and determination.
I still owe you an apology for my rude behavior yesterday.
owe sb sth
间接宾语（sb）放在直接宾语（sth）之前。
I owe him $10.
我欠他10美元。
owe sth to sb/sth
用于表示归因或感恩。
She owes her success to hard work.
她把成功归功于努力工作。
owe it to sb to do sth
表示因受恩惠而有责任做某事。
I owe it to my parents to study hard.
我欠父母的，要努力学习。
Connections
Collocations
- owe money
- 欠钱
- I owe him a lot of money for the car repairs.我欠他很多修车的钱。
- owe a debt
- 欠债
- The company owes a huge debt to the bank.这家公司欠银行巨额债务。
- owe an apology
- 应该道歉
- You owe me an apology for your rude behavior.你应该为你的粗鲁行为向我道歉。
- owe thanks
- 应该感谢
- We owe thanks to all the volunteers for their hard work.我们应该感谢所有志愿者的辛勤工作。
- owe it to
- 归功于
- She owes her success to her parents' support.她把成功归功于父母的支持。
- owe allegiance
- 效忠
Learner notes
Memory Tip
想象字母O像一个圆圈，象征欠别人的债务，说‘Oh，我欠你钱’。
Context & Register
常见场景：日常借贷、感谢或归功 中性语域，适用于金钱债务和抽象欠义，在日常和通用书面语中常见，较少用于极正式场合。
Pronunciation & Spelling
All listed words share the /oʊ/ vowel sound and the '-ow' spelling pattern, which is identical to the '-ow' in 'owe' (the final 'e' is silent). No common lookalikes with different sounds are listed.
High-value vocabulary
该词属于 Oxford 核心词汇，值得优先掌握常见搭配和句型。
Usage priority
Collins 词频等级为 3，建议结合例句记忆，而不是只背中文释义。
Learn the forms together
页面下方列出了常见词形变化。学习时注意它们在句子中的语法位置。
Dictionary facts from ECDICT, WIKTIONARY.