usurer
/ˈjuːʒ(ə)rə
/noun
A person who lends money at unreasonably high rates of interest.Where the actual producers fall prey to usurers and merchants, because of their lack of market power, they are reduced to a subsistence existence and forced to part with the surplus product....
- At the end of ten years everything was paid off, everything, the usurer's charges and the accumulation of superimposed interest.
- If you oblige many men to be money-lenders, some will assuredly be usurers.
Synonyms
extortionate moneylender, payday lender;
Irish gombeen man
informal loan shark
offensive Shylock
Origin
Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French, from Old French usure, from Latin usura (see usury).