What does "pawnbroker" mean?

A person who makes monetary loans at interest, taking personal property as security – which may be sold if not redeemed.

What is a synonym for "pawnbroker"?

Common synonyms include: bank, banker, bill broker, broker, cambist, cotton broker.

Pronounced //ˈpɔːnˌbɹəʊ.kə(ɹ)//.

//ˈpɔːnˌbɹəʊ.kə(ɹ)// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A person who makes monetary loans at interest, taking personal property as security – which may be sold if not redeemed.
""We may keep it by us," replied the pawnbroker, "for months; there is no demand for such articles." "But," exclaimed she, eagerly, "I shall soon redeem it!" "So you all say," returned the man, with imperturbable coolness."
2
a person who lends money at interest in exchange for personal property that is deposited as security wordnet

"He redeemed his watch from the pawnbroker."

From pawn + broker.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.