Table of Contents
What foreign words are used in the English language?
Foreign Words And Phrases Now Used In English
| ab initio | Latin from the beginning |
|---|---|
| billet-doux | French a love letter (literally ‘sweet note’) |
| blitzkrieg | German an intense, violent military campaign intended to bring about a swift victory (literally ‘lightning war’) |
| bona fide | Latin genuine; real (literally ‘with good faith’) |
What language are most English words derived from?
Latin
About 80 percent of the entries in any English dictionary are borrowed, mainly from Latin. Over 60 percent of all English words have Greek or Latin roots.
What are 10 English words that come from Spanish?
Animals
- alligator — el lagarto (“the lizard”)
- armadillo — “little armored one”
- barracuda — possibly from barraco (“snaggletooth”)
- bronco — “rough”
- burro — “donkey”
- cockroach — anglicization of cucaracha.
- mosquito — literally, “little fly”
- mustang — mustango, from mesteño (“untamed”)
Is Burrito a loan word?
Discover some examples of English words borrowed from Spanish….Food and Drink Loanwords.
| English Term | Spanish Term | Meaning/Origin of Spanish Term |
|---|---|---|
| burrito | burrito | diminutive of burro (donkey) |
What are some examples of clipped words?
Clipped Words
| ad – advertisement | memo – memorandum |
|---|---|
| auto – automobile | mike – microphone |
| bike – bicycle | mum – chrysanthemum |
| burger – hamburger | pen – penitentiary |
| bus – omnibus | phone – telephone |
What English words came from French?
Some of the French words that made their way into the English language were coined by French speaking inventors, discoverers or pioneers, or scientists: cinema, television, helicopter, parachute, harmonium, bathyscaphe, lactose, lecithin, bacteriophage, chlorophyll, mastodon, pterodactyl, oxide, oxygen, hydrogen.
Does the adoption of French words remain popular in modern times?
The total number of French words adopted during the Middle English period was slightly over 10.000, of these about 75 percent are still in current use.