You’re listening to Lingo Phoenix’s word of the day for February 10.

Today’s word is loan shark, spelled l-o-a-n s-h-a-r-k. Loan shark is a two-word compound and the stress mark falls on the first syllable. Loan shark is a countable noun that means, “someone who lends money at very high rates of interest and will often use threats or violence to get the money back.”

Here’s the word used in a sentence:

Loan sharks target those with bad debt records, because they may have difficulty getting loans from the usual sources.

Here’s the word used in a sentence from Scientific American by Zolelwa Sifumba:

Recently, one of my patients borrowed money from a loan shark just to get a private taxi to the hospital.

Shark, as a noun, can mean, “a dishonest person, especially one who persuades other people to pay too much money for something.” For instance, “People who need a place to live can often find themselves at the mercy of local property sharks.”

With your word of the day, I’m Mohammad Golpayegani.

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