What does calque mean?
A calque is a word or phrase that enters a language not by direct borrowing of the foreign form, but through a literal, part-by-part translation of it. The French expression "gratte-ciel," built from gratte (scrape) and ciel (sky), is a classic calque of English "skyscraper." Linguists treat calques as a distinct category of lexical borrowing: unlike a loanword such as "café," which keeps its foreign sound and spelling, a calque dresses foreign meaning in native clothing. The verb "to calque" describes the act of producing such a translation. Calque is a technical term used mainly in linguistics, translation studies, and language teaching, so it reads as scholarly rather than casual. It is useful precisely because it names a phenomenon most people recognize on sight but rarely know has a label — the many everyday expressions in any language that are really translated fragments of another language's thinking.
A word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal, component-by-component translation rather than by adopting the foreign word itself.
"French "gratte-ciel" is a well-known calque of English "skyscraper.""
Standard terminology in linguistics and translation studies.
To create or introduce a word or phrase in one language by literally translating the components of a word or phrase in another.
"Many European languages calqued the structure of English compound idioms during the twentieth century."
Usually found in academic writing about language contact.
Standard regular plural.
"The paper catalogued dozens of calques from Latin sources in medieval Spanish."
The English word "calque" is itself a borrowing — linguists took it straight from French, making it exactly the kind of import it describes.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of calque
Calque entered English as a borrowing of the French noun calque, which in this linguistic sense denotes a copy or tracing of a model. The French word ultimately derives from Latin calx, meaning limestone or lime, the same root that gives us calcium and calcareous; the semantic path runs from a tracing made over a model to a linguistic copy made over a foreign original. The specialized sense of a loan translation became established in twentieth-century comparative linguistics, where it remains standard terminology.
Related word forms
How calque is actually used
Calque is chiefly a technical term in linguistics and translation studies, so it sounds formal or academic in general conversation. It carries no emotional connotation. Both British and American English use it identically.
Easily confused with calque
"Calc" is an informal shortening of calculus or calcium, whereas a calque is a word-for-word borrowing between languages.
"Chalk" is the soft white mineral used for writing and drawing; it is pronounced identically to calque but entirely unrelated in meaning.
A loanword imports a foreign word itself (with its sound and spelling), while a calque imports only its meaning by translating each part into native words.