A pawnbroker is an individual or business (pawnshop or pawn shop) that offers secured loan

Secured loan

A secured loan is a loan in which the borrower pledges some asset as collateral for the loan, which then becomes a secured debt owed to the creditor who gives the loan...

s to people, with items of personal property

Personal property

Personal property, roughly speaking, is private property that is moveable, as opposed to real property or real estate. In the common law systems personal property may also be called chattels or personalty. In the civil law systems personal property is often called movable property or movables - any...

 used as collateral

Collateral (finance)

In lending agreements, collateral is a borrower's pledge of specific property to a lender, to secure repayment of a loan.The collateral serves as protection for a lender against a borrower's default - that is, any borrower failing to pay the principal and interest under the terms of a loan obligation...

. The word pawn is derived from the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 pignus, for pledge

Pledge (law)

A pledge is a bailment or deposit of personal property to a creditor to secure repayment for some debt or engagement, The term is also used to denote the property which constitutes the security....

, and the items having been pawned to the broker are themselves called pledges or pawns, or simply the collateral.

If an item is pawned for a loan, within a certain contractual period of time the pawner may purchase it back for the amount of the loan plus some agreed-upon amount for interest.