---
title: "BIP39 Word #209: borrow — Seed Phrase Mnemonic Word"
url: "https://bip39-phrase.com/bip39-word/borrow/"
language: "en"
updated: "2026-10-19T00:00:00+00:00"
---

Word #209 00011010000 

# borrow — BIP39 word #209

"**borrow**" is word #209 of the 2048 words in the official BIP39 English wordlist, between [boring](/bip39-word/boring/) and [boss](/bip39-word/boss/). In a seed phrase it stands for the 11-bit value `00011010000`, decimal index 208\. 

/ˈbɒrəʊ/  · _verb:_ to take something with the intention of giving it back 

[Russian](/ru/ "The BIP39 wordlist with Russian translations"): одолжить 

## Binary Representation

Three 1-bits and eight 0-bits; 165 of the 2048 indexes have exactly three 1-bits.

One wrong bit turns it into (leftmost bit first):

[old](/bip39-word/old/)[foam](/bip39-word/foam/)[deliver](/bip39-word/deliver/)[anxiety](/bip39-word/anxiety/)[bamboo](/bip39-word/bamboo/)[bulk](/bip39-word/bulk/)[blossom](/bip39-word/blossom/)[brand](/bip39-word/brand/)[box](/bip39-word/box/)[bottom](/bip39-word/bottom/)[boss](/bip39-word/boss/) 

Position

Hex Index

0x0D0

4-Letter Prefix

borr

## About "borrow" in BIP39

- "borrow" has 6 letters, but the first four, **"borr"**, already identify it, because **"bor"** also begins [border](/bip39-word/border/) and [boring](/bip39-word/boring/).
- **"borr"** is unique only within the English list: it also begins borrar in the [Spanish list](/spanish/) and borracha in the [Portuguese list](/portuguese/), so a four-letter backup should say which list it uses.
- "borrow" appears in one of the 24 official English [test vectors](https://github.com/trezor/python-mnemonic/blob/master/vectors.json) of BIP39: vector #16 (word 12 of 12). Every official vector passes the [checksum checker](/bip39-checksum-checker/), and [How BIP39 works](/how-bip39-works/) shows how the entropy turns into such words. As the last word of vector #16, its final 4 bits, **0000**, are the checksum of the 12-word phrase.

Official test vector #16

[scheme](/bip39-word/scheme/) [spot](/bip39-word/spot/) [photo](/bip39-word/photo/) [card](/bip39-word/card/) [baby](/bip39-word/baby/) [mountain](/bip39-word/mountain/) [device](/bip39-word/device/) [kick](/bip39-word/kick/) [cradle](/bip39-word/cradle/) [pact](/bip39-word/pact/) [join](/bip39-word/join/) borrow 

## Word #209 in the Other 9 BIP39 Wordlists

[Czech](/czech/) cvik 

[French](/french/) barque 

[Italian](/italian/) basso 

[Japanese](/japanese/) うんどう 

[Korean](/korean/) 군인 

[Portuguese](/portuguese/) atracar 

[Spanish](/spanish/) azufre 

[Traditional Chinese](/chinese-traditional/) 件 

[Simplified Chinese](/chinese-simplified/) 件 

## Similar Words — Check Carefully During Recovery

Words sharing the first three letters "bor":

[border](/bip39-word/border/)[boring](/bip39-word/boring/) 

## More BIP39 Words Starting with "B"

[ #205 book ](/bip39-word/book/)[ #206 boost ](/bip39-word/boost/)[ #207 border ](/bip39-word/border/)[ #208 boring ](/bip39-word/boring/)[ #210 boss ](/bip39-word/boss/)[ #211 bottom ](/bip39-word/bottom/)[ #212 bounce ](/bip39-word/bounce/)[ #213 box ](/bip39-word/box/) 

[View all words starting with "B" ](/bip39-words/b/) 

## Seed phrase, key and recovery guides

- [Cold Sharding: Splitting a Private Key Into Offline Shamir Shares](/cold-sharding-method-private-key-storage-strategy/)
- [Test Your Wallet Backup: A Self-Audit of Your Seed Phrase](/hack-own-crypto-wallet/)
- [EVM Address Format Explained: Structure & Usage](/format-evm-addresses/)

[ Full BIP39 Wordlist ](/)