40+ Borrowed Words in English and How They Got Into It
11 min
Created: November 24th, 2022Last updated: April 12th, 2023
Contents
You might not believe that, but borrowed words in English constitute almost 80% of a general language vocabulary. It means that the majority of common words you learn at school, hear in songs, or read in books, originally belong to different foreign languages. In this article, we will discuss the most popular English borrowed words, their history, and the ways they got into our daily conversations.
What are loanwords, and where did they come from?
Today, English is one of the most spoken languages in the world. Almost 1.5 billion people use it as their native or second language. But when it just appeared hundreds of years ago, it wasn’t so widespread. And, of course, it wasn’t that rich. Throughout history, English has been highly affected by various cultures, countries, and languages. And that is when the borrowed words came into view.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a loanword is a word taken from one language and used in another during particular circumstances. Most English words emerged under the impact of French and Latin speeches. You can also hear some terms and phrases that initially belonged to Italian, Spanish, Scandinavian, Greek, and even Russian languages. To understand how it happened, we need to dive into history.
Before becoming a major state, England was often subjected to conquests and attacks by other nations. And as we know, society has the most significant influence on vocabulary formation. Thus, Latin loanwords appeared as a consequence of the conquest of England by the Roman Empire and after the Christianization of Central Europe.
The Scandinavian words are connected with the year 870, when the Scandinavian conquerors overpowered England. French loan words in English appeared in the XI century in connection with the Norman Conquest. Now they make up almost 30% of the English vocabulary. Other countries also had their impact – for example, many German words appeared in English vocabulary during the World War.
How did borrowed English words come to be?
Now that you know a little about history, it is time to discuss some grammar details. You might not even realize that some words you’ve been using daily initially appeared in foreign languages. And to understand them better, let’s find out how exactly they’ve become common English words. There are three main ways of vocabulary transitions from one language to another.
- Transcription. It is the phonetic way of borrowing vocabulary units in which the original pronunciation of the word is preserved. Vivid examples of borrowed words created by transcription are the words “bouquet” and “ballet,” which come from French.
- Transliteration. This method means borrowing the word’s written form; English letters replace the original ones, and the word is pronounced according to the English rules. You can see examples of transliteration in “audience” (from the Latin word audio) and “democracy” (from the Greek word demos).
- Loan translation. This borrowing method involves copying foreign words, phrases, and expressions according to their literal meanings. For example, the term below one’s dignity came from the Latin phrase infra dignitatem. Another illustration of this borrowing method is the expression vicious circle – initially, it was the Latin term circulus vitiosus.
These are three main ways of borrowing English words from other languages. They are rare nowadays since most of the modern vocabulary was established hundreds of years ago. But now that you know their origins and ways of creating, it is time to learn the most common loanwords in English.
40+ English borrowed words examples
As we mentioned earlier, English was mostly impacted by French, Latin, and Scandinavian. Below, you will find the most common examples of borrowed words from these languages. So make yourself comfortable, and we are going to start.
French loanwords in English
Almost a thousand years ago, in 1066, William the Conqueror invaded England. Back then, Normans spoke Old French. Therefore, this language became a leading language in the conquered country. People spoke it for two reasons – first, it was necessary because some terms were unknown in Britain.
The second reason appeared later. Occasionally, speaking French became fancier than speaking English – people from high society considered English to be the language of peasants. Fortunately, those times are far behind us. But some expressions we use in our daily speech still remind us of them. Here are some examples of English words from another language.
- Pork, beef, mutton, veal.
It is hard to imagine that these tasty words we use nowadays were highly debated in ancient England. When French became trendy among aristocrats, the traditional word “swin” was replaced by its fancier version, “porc.” This way, “swin” was mainly used to describe what the peasants were breeding, while “porc” defined the food of the aristocrats. Later these two words borrowed from other languages transformed a little to suit English grammar rules – “swin” became “swine,” and “porc” became “pork.”
The same thing happened to other food. To separate themselves from the peasantry, aristocrats began to use different words for animals (cow, sheep, calf) and the meat they provided (beef, mutton, veal). And even though today we don’t have such division into social strata, we still use historical reminders of those times in our speech.
- Carpenter, execute, court, tailor, government.
These words might confuse you since they have very little in common. But in the times of the Norman Conquest, they were widespread among the elite (by the way, this is also a borrowed word.) Once again, people from high society used them to separate themselves from ordinary people, show respect to the new governors, and easily communicate with the conquerors.
Most words were connected to the royal court, shipbuilding, the army, etc. At the same time, the words duke and duchess, battle, cadet, captain, lieutenant, judge, attorney, and others came into use.
- Beautiful, visit, music, rewrite, explore, hour.
These words came into English from French a few centuries later and date back to the Renaissance. People started to travel the world, visit new places, and discover unknown art pieces. New things needed some names, and that is where the loan translation began. Most expressions that describe art come from French. For example, the word “beautiful” is a loan translation of the French word “beau,” and “music” came from “musique.”
- Leisure, gourmand, feudal, brother, garden.
When England again had a monarch in the Stuart era, many new words also came from France. Mostly, it was due to the social strata – the aristocrats learned many new words from the French nobility and used them in their language with minimal modifications.
Latin loan words list in English
Another significant influence English received from the Latin language. It all started in the times of the Roman Empire and continued during the Christianization. Even though Latin is considered a dead language now, we still use many words that came from it thousands of years ago. And believe us, some of them might really surprise you.
- Alibi.
This Latin word literally means “to be somewhere else.” But when it became a legal term, its definition slightly changed. Now it means that a person couldn’t be charged for committing a crime since they have significant proof of being in another place.
- Labor.
Labor in Latin means hard work, while in English, we usually use it to refer to any kind of physical work. This word has become the producer of other common terms – laboratory, collaboration, and elaborate.
- Agenda.
The word agenda came from the Latin verb agere, which meant performing any action. Today we use this term to describe the list of problems we will discuss at the meeting or the goals we are going to reach. Another way of using this word is to define one’s unclear, hidden motives.
- Visa.
Today we can’t imagine traveling to a foreign country without this document or permission for its absence. In Ancient Rome, this word was also used to define a document – the one that had been checked (charta visa – the document that had been seen).
- Video.
We all know the modern definition of this term. It is one of the best examples of words borrowed from other languages because we use it quite often in our daily lives. The original term is Latin, meaning “I see.”
- Etc.
You regularly see this abbreviation in the Promova blog articles. But have you ever wondered what it means? This shortcut came from the Latin word et cetera, which had the same meaning – and so on.
- AM & PM.
We can see these abbreviations every time we look at the watch or a phone screen to check the time. And we bet you’ve never known that they also came from Latin – ante meridiem and post meridiem, meaning before and after midday.
English words from other languages
You already know that Latin and French had the most significant impact on English vocabulary. But these are not the only languages that affect our daily speeches. Below, you will find the most common terms that came into English from foreign countries. And some of them can be really unexpected.
- Dollar.
Yes, you’ve read it right. Initially, this word appeared in the Czech Republic (Bohemia) in the XVI century. This was due to the fact that the country started to mint its own silver coins. It came to the USA almost three hundred years later, at the end of the XVIII century.
- Anonymous.
Now we use this word to define someone who doesn’t show their identity. In Ancient Greece, where the world was originally used, it had a similar meaning – someone who doesn’t have a name.
- Avatar.
In modern English, this word has two meanings – the famous James Cameron movie we all adore or the profile picture on social media. But initially, it is a Hindi word that means the incarnation of God in the human form.
- Candy.
This sweet word is definitely borrowed, but there are still some debates about its origin. It might be the loan translation of the French word (sucre candi – sugar candy), the Persian word qand (sugar), or the Sanskrit word khanda (sugar).
- Babushka.
This fashion word came to English from the Russian language. Originally, it meant a grandmother. But the modern definition describes a scarf tied on the head with a knot under the chin.
- Robot.
Another common word you didn’t expect to be borrowed. But it is – for the first time, this word appeared in the book R. U. R. written by Czech writer Karel Capek. It was a novel about artificial people called guess what? Robots. The best part about this story is that the book was published in 1921 – long before we started to really make robots.
- Chocolate.
One more tasty borrowed word in our list. It came from an Aztec language that is now considered dead. In the original, it was called xocolatl. You can still hear this word in some central regions of Mexico.
- Kindergarten.
We all use this term when talking about the place where kids go before school. Initially, it is a German word. Its literal translation is the children’s garden. You can hear this word not only in English but also in many other languages.
- Piano.
In English, this expression describes a popular musical instrument. The word came from the Italian term piano-forte. In the original language, it means “softly-loudly.” Also, this musical term means that you need to play a certain fragment of the composition softly.
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How to learn English words borrowed from other languages with the Promova app?
Learning English borrowed words might be beneficial for language practice. It can help you understand the origin of some terms, find proper pronunciation, and better interpret the definition of some expressions. But this process might be tricky for those who are just starting their English-learning journey. Luckily, we have a solution.
Promova is a modern online language-learning platform that offers many studying options for students worldwide. You can choose from several opportunities according to your proficiency level, studying preferences, etc. For example, if your goal is to practice speaking, you can join our free Conversation Club to discuss various topics with students from different countries.
If you prefer personal lessons, say no more! You can seek help from our team of professional tutors, who will be happy to provide you with all the information you need based on your language level. For those who like company instead, we offer group lessons, where you can make your studying process fun, meet new people, and make friends from all over the world.
Lastly, to those of you who like to study alone, Promova offers a convenient state-of-the-art application available for different devices. Here you can find everything you need to practice English alone, including various topics, interesting lessons, speaking and vocabulary practices (where you can find a complete English loan words list), and much more.
Therefore, don’t waste any more time and visit the Promova website right away to see what it has to offer, whether you are an experienced language speaker or just a beginner, prefer to study alone or in a group.
Conclusion
All in all, what was a loanword a hundred years ago, is now just a regular part of our speeches. Today borrowed words have become an integral part of the English language – we eat chocolate, walk our children to the kindergarten, discuss the agenda at work, and go to bed before 12 PM. But it is important to know the origins; we hope this article will help you with that. Please share your favorite borrowed words in the comments – we will be happy to learn something new!
FAQ
What are borrowed words?
According to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, a borrowed word or loanword is a word from a foreign language used in its initial form. Nowadays, almost 80% of all English vocabulary consists of borrowed words. Most of these terms came from French, Latin, German, Scandinavian, Spanish, Italian, Hindi, and Russian languages.
Why are there so many loanwords in English?
Most borrowed words appeared in English during particular historical events. For example, Latin words are connected to the Christianization of England and the times of the Roman Empire. French words came with the Norman Conquest, and German – came with the First and Second World Wars. Some words appeared like loan translations because English vocabulary didn’t have the proper definition (like the Australian word kangaroo – British people never saw this animal, so they called it as the Australian people did).
What are the most common English words borrowed from French?
During different historical periods, English vocabulary was replenished with various words. For example, the times of William the Conqueror brought the words battle, army, soldier, lieutenant, captain, cadet, duke, and duchess. The Renaissance came with the words beautiful, art, and music, and in times of the Stuart Era, the words leisure, gourmand, and garden appeared.
What are the most common English words borrowed from Latin?
The most common English words borrowed from the Latin language are agenda (from the verb agere), alibi (from the Latin alibi – to be somewhere else), labor (Latin – hard work), and visa (charta visa – a document that had been seen). Some of the most popular borrowed Latin terms are vicious circle (circulus vitiosus) and Carpe Diem (seize the moment).
The larger part of English
vocabulary consists of loan words. Borrowing is one of the ways of
enriching the vocabulary. Words can be borrowed through all kinds of
contacts between nations: wars, invasions, occupation, cultural and
trade relations between countries. It is natural, therefore, in
discussing the problem of loan words in any language to give a
survey of certain historical facts from the life of the people
speaking that language.
3.1. Latin borrowings
The
earliest borrowings came into English from Latin. In the 1st
century B.C. the Germanic tribes lived in Central Europe, they spoke
numerous Germanic languages which contained Indo-European and Common
Germanic elements. As most of Europe was occupied by the Roman Empire
at that time The Germanic tribes came into constant contacts with the
Romans. There were both military conflicts and trade relations. The
Germanic tribes were primitive cattle-breeders who knew next to
nothing about land cultivation. The only products known to them were
meat and milk. So, from the more civilized Romans they learnt how to
make butter and cheese. Since there were no words to name the new
foodstuffs in their tribal languages they had to use Latin words for
them. The Latin names of some fruits and vegetables new to the
Germanic tribes also entered their vocabulary: cherry,
pear, plum, pea, pepper, peach, beet. The
very word plant
is
also of Latin origin. Other Latin borrowings of this period are: cup,
dish, mill, kitchen, wine, mule, pound, inch, mile, kettle.
As Britain
was also part of the Roman Empire at that time, such words as street
(strata
via), wall
(vallum),
camp
(campus),
port
(portus),
chester
(as
in Manchester)
(castra) remaine in the language.
Historically,
all Latin loan words in English can be divided into 3 layers. The
borrowings described above belong to the
first layer.
The second
stream of Latin borrowings came into English with the
Christianization of the British Isles in the 7th
century A.D. The language of the Christian church was Latin and,
naturally,
the second layer
of Latin borrowings consists mostly of different religious terms:
pope,
bishop, monk, nun, priest, altar, devil, creed, angel, psalm, candle,
hymn, apostle, disciple. The
priests were educated people who began to establish church schools
and the words school,
master, verse, scholar, chalk came
into the language. Of words other than religious and educational
terms we may name such as lion,
copper, marble, gem, palm-tree, cap, spade, fork
(вилы).
The
third layer
of Latin borrowings refers to the epoch of Renaissance (in England it
came in the 16th
century, later than in Italy). This period was marked by the
prospering of art, science and culture in all European countries.
There also came a revival of interest in ancient civilizations of
Greece and Rome. The words that came into English during this period
differ greatly from earlier Latin borrowings. Now the borrowing was
done from literature and scientific works that were written in Latin
and the loan words, in contrast to the previous two layers, were
mostly abstract in meaning and many of them were scientific terms.
There were many verbs and adjectives among them and comparatively few
nouns: introduce,
execute, collect, decorate, senior, solar, triangular, evident,
cordial, obvious, union, relation, etc. The
words of the first and second layers were mostly nouns and the
borrowing was from oral everyday communication, not from written
sources.
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Loanwords are words adopted by the speakers of one language from
a different language (the source language). A
loanword can also be called a borrowing.
The abstract noun borrowing refers to the process of speakers
adopting words
from a source language into their native language. «Loan» and
«borrowing» are of course metaphors, because there is no literal
lending process. There is no transfer from
one language to another, and no «returning» words to
the source language. The words simply come to be used by a speech
community that speaks a different language from the one these words
originated in.
Borrowing is a consequence of cultural contact between two language
communities. Borrowing of words can go in both directions between the
two languages in contact, but often there is an asymmetry, such that more words
go from one side to the other. In this case the source language
community has some advantage of power, prestige and/or wealth that
makes the objects and ideas it brings desirable and useful to the borrowing
language community. For example, the Germanic tribes in the first few
centuries A.D. adopted numerous loanwords from Latin as they
adopted new products via trade with the Romans. Few Germanic words, on
the other hand, passed into Latin.
The actual process of borrowing is complex and involves many usage
events (i.e. instances of use of the new word). Generally, some
speakers of the borrowing language know the source language too, or at
least enough of it to utilize the relevant word. They (often
consciously) adopt the new word when
speaking the borrowing language, because it most exactly fits the idea
they are trying to express. If they are bilingual in the source
language, which is often the case, they might pronounce the words the
same or similar to the way they are pronounced in the source language.
For example, English speakers adopted the word garage from
French, at first with a pronunciation nearer to the French
pronunciation than is now usually found. Presumably the very first
speakers who used the word in English knew at least some French and
heard the word used by French speakers, in a French-speaking context.
Those who first use the new word might use it at first only with
speakers of the source language who know the word, but at some point
they come to use the word with those to whom the word was not
previously known.
To these speakers the word may sound ‘foreign’. At this stage, when
most speakers do not know the word and if they hear it think it is
from another language, the word
can be called a foreign word. There are many foreign words
and phrases used in English such as bon vivant (French),
mutatis mutandis (Latin), and Fahrvergnuegen (German).
However, in time more speakers can become familiar with a new foreign
word or expression.
The community of users of this word can
grow to the point where even people who know little or nothing of the
source language understand, and even use, the novel word
themselves. The new word becomes
conventionalized: part of the conventional ways of speaking in
the borrowing language. At this point we call it a borrowing or loanword.
(It should be noted that not all foreign words do become loanwords; if they fall out of use
before they become widespread, they do not reach the loanword stage.)
Conventionalization is a gradual process in which a word progressively
permeates a larger and larger speech community, becoming part of ever
more people’s linguistic repetoire.
As part of its becoming more familiar to more people,
a newly borrowed word gradually adopts sound and other characteristics
of the borrowing language as speakers who do not know the source
language accommodate it to their own linguistic systems. In time,
people in the borrowing community do not perceive the word as a loanword at all. Generally, the longer a borrowed word
has been in the language, and the more frequently it is used, the more
it resembles the native words of the language.
English has gone through many periods in which large numbers of words
from a particular language were borrowed. These periods coincide with
times of major cultural contact between English speakers and those
speaking other languages. The waves of borrowing during periods
of especially strong cultural contacts are not sharply delimited, and
can overlap. For example, the Norse influence on English began already
in the 8th century A.D. and continued strongly well after the Norman
Conquest brought a large influx of Norman French to the language.
It is part of the cultural history of English speakers that they have
always adopted loanwords from the languages of whatever cultures they have
come in contact with. There have been few periods when borrowing
became unfashionable, and there has never been a national academy in
Britain, the U.S., or other English-speaking countries to
attempt to restrict new loanwords, as there has been in many continental
European countries.
The following list is a small sampling of the loanwords that came into
English in different periods and from different languages.
Latin
The forms given in this section are the Old English ones. The original Latin source word is given in parentheses where significantly different. Some Latin words were themselves originally borrowed from Greek. It can be deduced that these borrowings date from the time before the Angles and Saxons left the continent for England, because of very similar forms found in the other old Germanic languages (Old High German, Old Saxon, etc.). The source words are generally attested in Latin texts, in the large body of Latin writings that were preserved through the ages.
| ancor | ‘anchor’ |
| butere | ‘butter’ (L < Gr. butyros) |
| cealc | ‘chalk’ |
| ceas | ‘cheese’ (caseum) |
| cetel | ‘kettle’ |
| cycene | ‘kitchen’ |
| cirice | ‘church’ (ecclesia < Gr. ecclesia) |
| disc | ‘dish’ (discus) |
| mil | ‘mile’ (milia [passuum] ‘a thousand paces’) |
| piper | ‘pepper’ |
| pund | ‘pound’ (pondo ‘a weight’) |
| sacc | ‘sack’ (saccus) |
| sicol | ‘sickle’ |
| straet | ‘street’ ([via] strata ‘straight way’ or stone-paved road) |
| weall | ‘wall’ (vallum) |
| win | ‘wine’ (vinum < Gr. oinos) |
Latin
| apostol | ‘apostle’ (apostolus < Gr. apostolos) |
| casere | ‘caesar, emperor’ |
| ceaster | ‘city’ (castra ‘camp’) |
| cest | ‘chest’ (cista ‘box’) |
| circul | ‘circle’ |
| cometa | ‘comet’ (cometa < Greek) |
| maegester | ‘master’ (magister) |
| martir | ‘martyr’ |
| paper | ‘paper’ (papyrus, from Gr.) |
| tigle | ’tile’ (tegula) |
Celtic
| brocc | ‘badger’ |
| cumb | ‘combe, valley’ |
(few ordinary words, but thousands of place and river names: London, Carlisle,
Devon, Dover, Cornwall, Thames, Avon…)
Scandinavian
Most of these first appeared in the written language in Middle English; but many were no doubt borrowed earlier, during the period of the Danelaw (9th-10th centuries).
- anger, blight, by-law, cake, call, clumsy, doze, egg, fellow, gear, get, give, hale, hit, husband, kick, kill, kilt, kindle, law, low, lump, rag, raise, root, scathe, scorch, score, scowl, scrape, scrub, seat, skill, skin, skirt, sky, sly, take, they, them, their, thrall, thrust, ugly, want, window, wing
- Place name suffixes: -by, -thorpe, -gate
French
- Law and government—attorney, bailiff, chancellor, chattel, country, court, crime, defendent, evidence, government, jail, judge, jury, larceny, noble, parliament, plaintiff, plea, prison, revenue, state, tax, verdict
- Church—abbot, chaplain, chapter, clergy, friar, prayer, preach, priest, religion, sacrament, saint, sermon
- Nobility—baron, baroness; count, countess; duke, duchess; marquis, marquess; prince, princess; viscount, viscountess; noble, royal (contrast native words: king, queen, earl, lord, lady, knight, kingly, queenly)
- Military—army, artillery, battle, captain, company, corporal, defense,enemy,marine, navy, sergeant, soldier, volunteer
- Cooking—beef, boil, broil, butcher, dine, fry, mutton, pork, poultry, roast, salmon, stew, veal
- Culture and luxury goods—art, bracelet, claret, clarinet, dance, diamond, fashion, fur, jewel, oboe, painting, pendant, satin, ruby, sculpture
- Other—adventure, change, charge, chart, courage, devout, dignity, enamor, feign, fruit, letter, literature, magic, male, female, mirror, pilgrimage, proud, question, regard, special
Also Middle English French loans: a huge number of words in age, -ance/-ence, -ant/-ent, -ity, -ment, -tion, con-, de-, and pre- .
Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether a given word came from French or whether it was taken straight from Latin. Words for which this difficulty occurs are those in which there were no special sound and/or spelling changes of the sort that distinguished French from Latin
The effects of the renaissance begin to be seriously felt in England. We see the beginnings of a huge influx of Latin and Greek words, many of them learned words imported by scholars well versed in those languages. But many are borrowings from other languages, as words from European high culture begin to make their presence felt and the first words come in from the earliest period of colonial expansion.
Latin
- agile, abdomen, anatomy, area, capsule, compensate, dexterity, discus, disc/disk, excavate, expensive, fictitious, gradual, habitual, insane, janitor, meditate, notorious, orbit, peninsula, physician, superintendent, ultimate, vindicate
Greek (many of these via Latin)
- anonymous, atmosphere, autograph, catastrophe, climax, comedy, critic, data, ectasy, history, ostracize, parasite, pneumonia, skeleton, tonic, tragedy
- Greek bound morphemes: -ism, -ize
Arabic
- via Spanish—alcove, algebra, zenith, algorithm, almanac, azimuth, alchemy, admiral
- via other Romance languages—amber, cipher, orange, saffron, sugar, zero, coffee
Period of major colonial expansion, industrial/technological revolution, and American immigration.
Words from European languages
French
French continues to be the largest single source of new words outside of very specialized vocabulary domains (scientific/technical vocabulary, still dominated by classical borrowings).
- High culture—ballet, bouillabaise, cabernet, cachet, chaise longue, champagne, chic, cognac, corsage, faux pas, nom de plume, quiche, rouge, roulet, sachet, salon, saloon, sang froid, savoir faire
- War and Military—bastion, brigade, battalion, cavalry, grenade, infantry, pallisade, rebuff, bayonet
- Other—bigot, chassis, clique, denim, garage, grotesque, jean(s), niche, shock
- French Canadian—chowder
- Louisiana French (Cajun)—jambalaya
Spanish
- armada, adobe, alligator, alpaca, armadillo, barricade, bravado, cannibal, canyon, coyote, desperado, embargo, enchilada, guitar, marijuana, mesa, mosquito, mustang, ranch, taco, tornado, tortilla, vigilante
Italian
- alto, arsenal, balcony, broccoli, cameo, casino, cupola, duo, fresco, fugue, gazette (via French), ghetto, gondola, grotto, macaroni, madrigal, motto, piano, opera, pantaloons, prima donna, regatta, sequin, soprano, opera, stanza, stucco, studio, tempo, torso, umbrella, viola, violin
- from Italian American immigrants—cappuccino, espresso, linguini, mafioso, pasta, pizza, ravioli, spaghetti, spumante, zabaglione, zucchini
Dutch, Flemish
- Shipping, naval terms—avast, boom, bow, bowsprit, buoy, commodore, cruise, dock, freight, keel, keelhaul, leak, pump, reef, scoop, scour, skipper, sloop, smuggle, splice, tackle, yawl, yacht
- Cloth industry—bale, cambric, duck (fabric), fuller’s earth, mart, nap (of cloth), selvage, spool, stripe
- Art—easel, etching, landscape, sketch
- War—beleaguer, holster, freebooter, furlough, onslaught
- Food and drink—booze, brandy(wine), coleslaw, cookie, cranberry, crullers, gin, hops, stockfish, waffle
- Other—bugger (orig. French), crap, curl, dollar, scum, split (orig. nautical term), uproar
German
- bum, dunk, feldspar, quartz, hex, lager, knackwurst, liverwurst, loafer, noodle, poodle, dachshund, pretzel, pinochle, pumpernickel, sauerkraut, schnitzel, zwieback, (beer)stein, lederhosen, dirndl
- 20th century German loanwords—blitzkrieg, zeppelin, strafe, U-boat, delicatessen, hamburger, frankfurter, wiener, hausfrau, kindergarten, Oktoberfest, schuss, wunderkind, bundt (cake), spritz (cookies), (apple) strudel
Yiddish (most are 20th century borrowings)
- bagel, Chanukkah (Hanukkah), chutzpah, dreidel, kibbitzer, kosher, lox, pastrami (orig. from Romanian), schlep, spiel, schlepp, schlemiel, schlimazel, gefilte fish, goy, klutz, knish, matzoh, oy vey, schmuck, schnook,
Scandinavian
- fjord, maelstrom, ombudsman, ski, slalom, smorgasbord
Russian
- apparatchik, borscht, czar/tsar, glasnost, icon, perestroika, vodka
Words from other parts of the world
Sanskrit
- avatar, karma, mahatma, swastika, yoga
Hindi
- bandanna, bangle, bungalow, chintz, cot, cummerbund, dungaree, juggernaut, jungle, loot, maharaja, nabob, pajamas, punch (the drink), shampoo, thug, kedgeree, jamboree
Dravidian
- curry, mango, teak, pariah
Persian (Farsi)
- check, checkmate, chess
Arabic
- bedouin, emir, jakir, gazelle, giraffe, harem, hashish, lute, minaret, mosque, myrrh, salaam, sirocco, sultan, vizier, bazaar, caravan
African languages
- banana (via Portuguese), banjo, boogie-woogie, chigger, goober, gorilla, gumbo, jazz, jitterbug, jitters, juke(box), voodoo, yam, zebra, zombie
American Indian languages
- avocado, cacao, cannibal, canoe, chipmunk, chocolate, chili, hammock, hominy, hurricane, maize, moccasin, moose, papoose, pecan, possum, potato, skunk, squaw, succotash, squash, tamale (via Spanish), teepee, terrapin, tobacco, toboggan, tomahawk, tomato, wigwam, woodchuck
- (plus thousands of place names, including Ottawa, Toronto, Saskatchewan and the names of more than half the
states of the U.S., including Michigan, Texas, Nebraska, Illinois)
Chinese
- chop suey, chow mein, dim sum, ketchup, tea, ginseng, kowtow, litchee
Japanese
- geisha, hara kiri, judo, jujitsu, kamikaze, karaoke, kimono, samurai, soy, sumo, sushi, tsunami
Pacific Islands
- bamboo, gingham, rattan, taboo, tattoo, ukulele, boondocks
Australia
- boomerang, budgerigar, didgeridoo, kangaroo (and many more in Australian English)
For example what is the origin of name Catherine?
Etymology Dictionary says that:
it’s from French Catherine, from Medieval Latin Katerina, from Latin Ecaterina, from Greek Aikaterine. The -h- was introduced 16c., probably a folk etymology from Greek katheros «pure.» The initial Greek vowel is preserved in Russian form Ekaterina.
As the name of a type of pear, attested from 1640s. Catherine wheel (early 13c.) is named for St. Catherine of Alexandria, legendary virgin martyr from the time of Maximinus who was tortured on a spiked wheel. Her name day is Nov. 25. A popular saint in the Middle Ages, which accounts for the popularity of the given name.
So the origin of this word is
Greek? or Latin? or French?
How to find out?
asked Oct 22, 2014 at 15:44
7
Borrowing happens in stages. The English name Catherine is borrowed from French, the French from Latin, the Latin from Greek. From an English point of view the origin is French.
answered Oct 22, 2014 at 17:36
fdbfdb
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3
Borrowing can also go back and forth. The word «flirt» is used in
French, both as a noun (for the act or for the person) and as a verb
(«flirter»). It was clearly borrowed, a few decades ago, from English.
But in English, it is said (among other possible origins) to possibly
derives from the French «conter fleurette», borrowed a long time
ago (16th century). I will not get into the etymology of «conter fleurette», since a
quick scan of the web shows many not so compatible views of it.
answered Oct 23, 2014 at 22:36
baboubabou
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Which origin?
If you’re looking for which language a word first emerged, you’d be looking for the ultimate origin.
So in the case of the name Catherine, we can say that it is ultimately from Greek Aikaterine.
But sometimes we aren’t so interested in the ultimate origin so much as an intermediate one, especially when we try to understand how the spelling or pronunciation has changed over time.
There isn’t really a specific name for this, but a term I like to use among friends is vectoral origin. Can we determine which language has transmitted a particular word to another?
Catherine was directly loaned into English through the French Catherine, hence the identical spelling and similar pronunciation.
All of the steps you can find in a dictionary altogether constitute the origin of a word, or at least a speculation thereof.
answered Dec 20, 2020 at 10:05
madprogramermadprogramer
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The English language has many borrowed words. English is basically a Germanic language by structure. English vocabulary, however, comes from everywhere. In this posting I talk briefly about the history of English and where many of its borrowed words come from. Finally I talk about parts of many common English words that came from Greek or Latin. There will be many example words and sentences. The download at the end will give you more practice using and understanding borrowed words in English.
How borrowed words work in English
Prior to 1066, the people living in the British Isles had no need for borrowed words. They spoke a German language called Old English. It is related to what we speak today. In 1066, William the Conqueror of France conquered Britain. The language of the nobles became French. The common people, however, still spoke Old English. Because of this, a double vocabulary developed in English. For example, everyone liked pork. The nobles called it by the French word, porc, while the common people called it swine. Both words exist in modern English, although pork is more common. As Christianity spread, more words form other European counties crept into English.
Some fun facts about borrowed words
Here is a brief summary of where many borrowed words in English come from: Latin–29%, French–29%, Greek–6%, other languages–6%, and proper names–4%. That leaves only 26% of English words that are actually English! There is very little that is original about English. Since its words come form so many languages, many may have come from yours.
When English borrowed words, it kept the original spellings from the original languages. All languages borrow words, but many change the rules to fit their phonetics. For example, photograph is a Greek word. Ph has the sound /f/ in Greek. English has kept the ph, but Spanish has changed it to f as in fotografia. This is why English spelling is so difficult and often does not make sense, even for native English speakers.
Some common borrowed words in English
Below is a list of borrowed words and the language they come from. You probably use many f these words every day.
- dollar (Dutch)–connected to a mint where coins are made.
- zero (Arabic)–Many words relating to math come form Arabic.
- alarm (Italian)–to arms
- banana, zebra, jumbo, yam (African tribal languages)
- ketchup (Chinese)
- pyjamas (Urdu and Persian)
- giraffe (Arabic)
- anime, sushi, karaoke (Japanese)
- moccasin (Native American tribal languages)
- ski (Norwegian)
- penguin (Welsh)
- ballot (Italian)–means a small pebble cast into a box to vote
- canteloupe (Italian)–named after a town where this melon grows
- massage (French)
Common parts of words borrowed from Greek
Many common English words were borrowed, in part form Greek. Many other languages have also borrowed these word parts, so you language may have cognates with these words. This will make it easier for you to earn them. You will see the word part, some example words, and an example sentence.
- anti (against)–antibacterial. You need to shower with antibacterial soap before surgery.
- ast (er)–astronomy, asteroid. Astronomy is the study of stars and planets.
- aqu (water)–aquarium. A fish may live in an aquarium.
- auto (self)–automatic. An automatic transmission changes gears by itself.
- bio (life)–biology, biography. A biography is the story of someone’s life.
- chrome (color)–monochrome. A monochrome image has only one color.
- chrono (time)–chronicle. A chronicle is a story told over time.
- geo (earth)–geology. Geology is the study of the earth.
- graph (write)–autograph. Your autograph is your signature.
- hydr (water)–dehydrate. If you don’t drink enough water, you may become dehydrated.
- path (feel)–sympathy. I felt sympathy for her when her father died.
- phono (sound)–telephone. You can hear someone’s voice on the telephone.
- photo (light)–photocopy. Please make a photocopy of this recipe for me.
- tele (far)–television. A television lets you see shows all over the world.
Some common parts of words borrowed from Latin
Although no one speaks Latin anymore, many parts of Latin live on in word parts. Many languages have borrowed from Latin, especially for math, science, and medical words. Chances are you have Latin cognates in your language.
- audi (hear)–audience. The audience enjoyed the concert.
- bene (good)–benefit. My new job has many excellent benefits.
- brev (short– brief, abbreviate. We can abbreviate Mister to Mr.
- circ (round)–circle, circus, circulate. We may need to circulate if there is no place to park.
- dict (say)–dictate, diction. Dictate the letter you want to send, and I’ll write it.
- doc (teach)–document, doctrine. Please read this document before you make a decision.
- gen (birth)–generation. There are 3 generations in her home, the grandparents, the parents, and the kids.
- jur (law) jury–On no! I just got a summons for jury duty.
- lev (lift)–elevate, elevator. Take the elevator to the 5th floor.
- luc, lum (light)–translucent, illuminate. You can see some light through something translucent.
- manu (hand)–manicure, manual. A construction worker does manual labor.
- mis, mit (send)–transmit. You can transmit your message several ways.
- pac (peace)–pacifist. A pacifist does not believe in war.
- port (carry)–portable, export. A laptop is a portable computer.
- scrib, scrip (write)–script, describe. Please describe your hometown.
- sens (feel)–sensitive. She is sensitive, as her feelings are easily hurt.
- terr (earth)–territory, terrestrial. A wolf has a huge territory in the wild.
- tim (fear)–timid. A timid person is fearful and shy.
- vac (empty)–vacuum, evacuate. Please evacuate the building when you hear the fire alarm.
- vid, vis (see)–video, vision. He has poor vision, so he needs glasses.
You now know that English has many words borrowed from other languages. In fact, most English words are borrowed from somewhere else. Many borrowed words are of Greek or Latin origin. A large number of these words have cognates in many languages. If you know what many of these common word parts mean, it will help your English vocabulary to grow. The download will give you additional practice using and understanding many of our borrowed words.
You can download the practice sheet now!
Idioms of the day
- to stop at nothing–This means to be willing to do anything to achieve success. Stephen will stop at nothing to win a large Christmas bonus.
- to law down the law–This means to strongly assert your authority. After Charlie got into his fifth car accident, his parents laid down the law. No more driving!