Thursday, June 15, 2017

Borrowed Words in English

English has borrowed many words from other languages. In addition to Greek and Latin, English has words from many languages in every corner of the world. Here's a list of ten words borrowed from ten different languages:

ballet (French) -this is a dancing style which originated in France

coleslaw (Dutch) -in Dutch the word is koolsla, which means cabbage salad

dim sum (Chinese) - a style of Chinese cuisine especially popular in Hong Kong

karate (Japanese) -the literal meaning for this martial art is empty hand

kindergarten (German) -the literal translation is children's garden

paparazzi (Italian) -the singular of this word is paparazzo

paprika (Hungarian) -the spice and the fruit are very common in Hungarian cuisine

plaza (Spanish) - an open public area sometimes called a square

sheikh (Arabic) - a leader or ruler

taekwondo (Korea) - this popular martial art originated in Korea

This short list illustrates that English has many loanwords. In addition to languages such as French, Greek and Latin, English has also borrowed from languages such as Arabic and Japanese. This is partly due to the fact that at its height, the British Empire was the largest in history.

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