Did you know that about 80% of the entries in any English dictionary are borrowed? Most of them, naturally, come from Latin, with over 60% of all English words arriving from Ancient Rome or Greece. In scientific and technological spheres, this figure rises to over 90%!
The phenomenon is so common that we have an official term for these borrowings: loanword. And in true borrowing fashion, the term itself is a calque from the German “Lehnwort”.
These days, however, far from borrowing from Antiquity, the English language is now the leading exporter of loanwords, including practically universal terms such as “OK,” “internet,” and “hamburger”.
"As countless linguists have pointed out, it's extremely unlikely that a borrowed word will ever be returned to the donor language.” We certainly clung onto the words below in English...
Did you know all of these words were borrowed from other languages? Can you guess which ones?
1. Eldorado
2. Alcazar
3. Kayak
4. Opera
5. Ketchup
6. Marmalade
7. Siesta
8. Guru
9. Beer
10. Yurt
11. Cobra
12. Croissant
13. Algorithm
14. Energy
15. Dock
16. Vodka
17. Escalade
18. Elf
19. Ski
20. Piano
21. Caramel
22. Bureau
23. Amen
24. Aspirin
25. Cacao
26. Bivouac
27. Bamboo
28. Shampoo
29. Zero
30. Coffee
31. Futon
32. Mask
33. Quartz
34. Drug
35. Poetic
Answers (no peeking...)
1. Eldorado (Spanish)
2. Alcazar (Arabic)
3. Kayak (Danish)
4. Opera (Italian)
5. Ketchup (Chinese) - Unexpected!
6. Marmalade (Portuguese)
7. Siesta (Spanish) - That was easy, wasn’t it?!
8. Guru (Sanskrit)
9. Beer (Dutch)
10. Yurt (Russian)
11. Cobra (Portuguese)
12. Croissant (German) - Bet you didn’t expect that?!
13. Algorithm (Arabic)
14. Energy (French)
15. Dock (Dutch)
16. Vodka (Russian) - This one was easy!
17. Escalade (Italian)
18. Elf (Swedish)
19. Ski (Norwegian)
20. Piano (Italian)
21. Caramel (Arabic)
22. Bureau (French)
23. Amen (Hebrew)
24. Aspirin (German)
25. Cacao (Spanish)
26. Bivouac (German)
27. Bamboo (Malay)
28. Shampoo (Hindi)
29. Zero (Arabic) - Did you learn that at school?
30. Coffee (Turkish)
31. Futon (Japanese)
32. Mask (Italian)
33. Quartz (German)
34. Drug (Dutch) - Is that so surprising? ;)
35. Poetic (French)