• API – Application Programming Interface of Kiva, the collection of methods that can be employed to communicate with the Kiva.org database
• Borrower – an individual that borrows from a lender
• Lender – an individual lending to borrowers
• Group loans – a group of borrowers that collectively apply for a loan
• Lending teams – groups of 2 or more lenders on Kiva.org
• Lending actions – the micro credit transactions by lenders
• Lending behavior – general term for a pattern in lending actions, or lack thereof, (e.g. frequency or amount lent) by a lender
  • Lending frequency – amount of lending actions over time
  • Lending amount – amount lent over time (per lender)
• Private development aid – development aid by (internet-based) private organisations like Kiva.org
• Official development aid – Development aid by governments and official NGO’s

Also see http://build.kiva.org/docs/data/terminology for the official Kiva entities documentation.