What percentage of the English language is based on Latin and Greek?

Over 60 percent of all English words have Greek or Latin roots. In the vocabulary of the sciences and technology, the figure rises to over 90 percent. About 10 percent of the Latin vocabulary has found its way directly into English without an intermediary (usually French).

What is English language made up of?

So, English is made of Old English, Danish, Norse, and French, and has been changed by Latin, Greek, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Dutch and Spanish, along with some words from other languages. English grammar has also changed, becoming simpler and less Germanic. The classic example is the loss of case in grammar.

How many English words are from Latin?

Depending on the situation, between 40 and 90 percent of English words are derived from Latin. In an every day conversation, we will have 40\%.

How did English come from Latin?

English has its roots in the Germanic languages, from which German and Dutch also developed, as well as having many influences from romance languages such as French. (Romance languages are so called because they are derived from Latin which was the language spoken in ancient Rome.)

Why are there so many Latin and Greek words in English?

The basic reason for the many Latin and Greek words in modern English is that in their own time, the classical versions of these languages were, like English today, international languages with a dominant effect on the educational systems and culture of the rest of their world.

Where did the English language get its words from?

From Wikipedia. English started to get words from Latin and Greek from trade between the groups, but the first major influx came with the influence of the early church. Pre-English (or Proto-Germanic for our purposes here) got one very important church-related word from Greek early on: kyrka.

Does the French language have both Latin and Greek origins?

Norman French, of course has Latin as its origin. So it’s not correct to say “English has both Latin and Greek origins”. Origin means starting point and the Norman borrowing happened much later than the starting point of English, though still in a remote time from our point of view.

Are there any words that have a common ancestry between English and Latin?

Since English, Latin and Greek are all Indo-European languages some words will have a shared ancestry. Father (English) Pater (Latin & Greek) is a good example of this. Our ancestors were borrowing words from Latin and Greek before English existed.