Other forms: allowed, allowing, allows
To allow is to let something happen. Allow him to go, not allowed, allow time for it.
It is permission granted by somebody with the standing to withhold it, which is why not allowed carries an authority that cannot is missing. Allow for means to make room for in a plan. Note that the word merged two different French verbs — one meaning to praise and one meaning to allocate — which is why its senses spread so widely.
1verballowTo let something happen.
“My parents don't allow me to stay out after midnight.”
2verbroomTo make room for in a plan.
“Allow an extra hour for the journey in case of traffic.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
allow is a permitting.
Anglo-Norman allouer merges two Latin verbs, allaudare, to praise, and allocare, to allocate. Allocate and laud come from the two halves.
Anglo-Norman
alouer
Middle English
allowen
English, today
allow
From Middle English allowen, from Anglo-Norman alouer, from aloer. From Middle English allowen, alowen, a borrowing from Anglo-Norman allouer, alouer, from Medieval Latin allaudō, merged with alouer, from Medieval Latin allocō (“to assign”). a doublet of allaud (via allaudāre) or allocate (via allocāre). The similarity with Middle English alyfen (from ālīefan) and German erlauben, both from Proto-Germanic uzlaubijaną (“to allow”) is unrelated.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA