A majority of words in the English language are "loaned to" or "borrowed from" other languages.
Up to 350 different languages have had their own contribution to the English vocabulary. Many contribute to specific industries' vocabulary, like Latin's and Greek's contribution to medicine.
According to writer James Nicoll, “English doesn’t borrow from other languages. English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over, and goes through their pockets for loose grammar.”
Time period when words were loaned or borrowed from:
Languages words were loaned or borrowed from:
1) Germanic period or Pre-Old English (before 600AD)
anchor, butter, chalk, cheese, kettle, kitchen, church, dish, mile, pepper, pound, sack, sickle, street, wall, wine
badger, combe, valley
2) Old English Period
(600-1100 AD)
anchor, butter, chalk, cheese, kettle, kitchen, church, dish, mile, pepper, pound, sack, sickle, street, wall, wine
2) Middle English Period
(1100-1500 AD)
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
Law and government: attorney, bailiff, chancellor, chattel, country, court, crime, defendant, 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
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
3) Early Modern English Period
(1500-1650 AD)
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
(many of these via Latin) anonymous, atmosphere, autograph, catastrophe, climax, comedy, critic, data, ecstasy, history, ostracize, parasite, pneumonia, skeleton, tonic, tragedy
alcove, algebra, algorithm, almanac, azimuth, alchemy, amber, cipher, coffee, orange, saffron, sugar, zenith, zero
4) Present Day English
(1650 AD - present)
High culture : ballet, bouillabaisse, 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, battalion, bayonet, brigade, cavalry, grenade, infantry, pallisade, rebuff
Other : bigot, chassis, clique, denim, garage, grotesque, jean(s), niche, shock
armada, adobe, alligator, alpaca, armadillo, barricade, bravado, cannibal, canyon, coyote, desperado, embargo, enchilada, guitar, marijuana, mesa, mosquito, mustang, ranch, taco, tornado, tortilla,
vigilante
alto, arsenal, balcony, broccoli, cameo, cappuccino, casino, cupola, duo, espresso, fresco, fugue, gazette (via French), ghetto, gondola, grotto, linguini, macaroni, madrigal, mafioso, motto, piano, opera, pantaloons, pasta, pizza, prima donna, ravioli, regatta, sequin, soprano, spagetti, spumante, opera, stanza, stucco, studio, tempo, torso,
umbrella, viola, violin, zabaglione, zucchini
fjord, maelstrom, ombudsman, ski, slalom, smorgasbord
apparatchik, borscht, czar/tsar, glasnost, icon, perestroika, vodka
avatar, karma, mahatma, swastika, yoga
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
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,
bandanna, bangle, bungalow, chintz, cot, cummerbund, dungaree, juggernaut, jungle, loot, maharaja, nabob, pajamas, punch (the drink), shampoo, thug, kedgeree, jamboree
curry, mango, teak, pariah
check, checkmate, chess
bedouin, emir, jakir, gazelle, giraffe, harem, hashish, lute, minaret, mosque, myrrh, salaam, sirocco, sultan, vizier, bazaar, caravan
boomerang, budgerigar, didgeridoo, kangaroo (and many more in Australian English)
chop suey, chow mein, dim sum, tea, ginseng, kowtow, litchee
banana (via Portuguese), banjo, boogie-woogie, chigger, goober, gorilla, gumbo, jazz, jitterbug, jitters, juke(box), voodoo, yam, zebra, zombie
ketchup, amok
geisha, hara kiri, judo, jujitsu, kamikaze, karaoke, kimono, samurai, soy, sumo, sushi, tsunami
bamboo, gingham, rattan, taboo, tattoo, ukulele, boondocks
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)
Credit: Prof S. Kemmer - Words in English public website LING 216 Rice University - http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Words/loanwords.html